Colorado Summers Redux
by AshleySue
Summary: Eric grows up working summers at the Stackhouse family ranch, and becomes friends with Sookie and Jason. What happens when he wants more than friendship with Sookie? A continuation of a Cowboy Up! one shot.
1. Chapter 1

"Sookie Stackhouse, you have until the count of 10 to be in this house or it'll be double chores for a week!" Sookie smiled as she heard her mother's voice. She'd been outside playing and had completely lost track of time. That had been happening more and more frequently these days. She used to spend all her time playing with Jason. But, midway through the previous summer, he'd started distancing himself from her. When she asked him why he didn't want her around anymore, he told her he was too old to play stupid kid games with a girl. So, she'd been spending her time these days with her own imagination.

"Sookie, NOW!" Her mother sounded upset now. She stood, dusted herself off, and went running for the house. The minute she was inside, her mother grabbed her hand and began yanking her towards her bedroom. "Child, I swear you are a magnet for messes. It's a good thing I waited to put you in your pretty dress, if you'd gotten it dirty I would've tanned your hide!" Sookie tried to hold back her laughter. Her mother was always threatening to spank Sookie, but she'd never once actually done it.

Her mother grabbed a wet washcloth and cleaned her face and arms, pulled the dirty tank top and jeans off of her, and slipped the brand new summer dress she'd just bought onto her slim body. Sookie twirled, watching the soft fabric of the skirt billow out around her. The dress was white cotton, and had pink flowers. Her mother ran a brush through Sookie's long blonde hair, pulling it into a ponytail and using a pink ribbon that matched her dress.

"There, cute as a button! Now go back downstairs and find Daddy and Jason."

Sookie went bounding down the staircase in search of her father and brother. She found them seated in the living room just as the old grandfather clock in the hallway chimed, indicating that it was 6pm.

"Daddy!" She shouted as she jumped into her father's lap. He hugged her close, and placed a kiss on the top of her head.

"Well don't you look pretty this evening?"

"I look like a Princess, Daddy!" She said, and he smiled at her.

"I'm hungry, why do we have to wait for this kid to get here, anyway?" Jason asked in a huff, rolling his eyes at his sister.

"Because it's polite to wait for your dinner guests to arrive before you actually **begin** dinner, Jason," their mother replied as she came down the staircase.

"I still don't get why he's gotta come stay with us, anyway," Jason added.

Their mother sighed in exasperation. "Jason, we have been over this. Eric lives with his grandmother, and she's getting too old to keep up with him when he's not in school. We offered him a place to stay and a job for the summer." The noise of car tires on the gravel driveway interrupted their conversation. "**Be polite**." She smoothed out the front of her dress, and walked to the door just as someone knocked.

She opened the door, and smiled brightly at her guests. "Hello, Mike, come on in," she said, gesturing with an open hand for her guests to enter the living room. Sookie watched as Mike, a man who'd worked for her father as long as she could remember, walked in, followed by a tall, skinny, blonde boy.

Mike removed his wide brimmed hat, nodded and smiled at Sookie and Jason, and said, "Peter, Miranda, this is my nephew, Eric." Then, he turned to the boy standing next to him. "Eric, this is Peter and Miranda Stackhouse, and their children, Jason and Sookie." Eric took in all the faces in front of him with wide eyes, but didn't say a word.

"It's a pleasure to have you here, Eric," Miranda said, putting her hand on the boys shoulder. "Well, come on y'all, let's eat before supper gets cold." They all stood and went into the dining room.

Peter followed his wife to one end of the table and held out her chair as she sat, then walked to his own seat at the head. Jason sat down in his usual spot, and Mike went to sit next to him, leaving Eric and Sookie to sit beside each other opposite them. Once everyone had settled in, Peter indicated that they should bow their heads to pray.

Once her father had finished blessing the food, Miranda insisted that everyone dig in, and the large serving platters were passed around until everyone's plate was as full as could be. After a moment of semi-awkward silence, Miranda asked, "Now, Eric, why don't you tell us a little about yourself?"

Eric looked up at her, and then quickly looked at his uncle, almost as if he was asking for permission to speak. After a reassuring nod from Mike, Eric did indeed speak. "Well, M'am, um, my name is Eric Northman, and I'm 12 years old." He gave a slight nod of his head, almost as if he'd just told his entire life's story.

Miranda Stackhouse grinned and said, "Well, that makes you the same age as Jason, isn't that right, son?" Jason looked up from his food and mumbled something with a full mouth, and went back to ignoring everyone else.

"You'll have to forgive Jason his manners, Eric, sometimes he forgets he's a human being," she said with a small amount of tension. Sookie burst into a fit of giggles, and Eric turned to watch her laugh. He grinned a little at her.

"Well, I know my manners. My name is Sookie. I'm 10 years old, and Daddy says ever since I was born, I've been able to wrap every man who's worked here around my little finger," she said with a huge smile. Peter just shook his head and laughed at his little girl's bluntness.

"Now if **that** isn't the truth, I don't know what is!" Mike added. "I've worked here for going on 10 years now, and I don't think I've seen a single man set foot on this ranch that didn't leave thinking that Miss Sookie here hung the moon." Mike laughed even harder as he saw Jason roll his eyes at this comment. Apparently, her brother was the **only** exception to that statement.

The rest of the meal continued in about the same fashion. Peter explained to Eric that the main thing they did on this ranch was raise cattle. Some were for milking, and some were sold to the beef company. Eric's uncle had explained most of this to him earlier, so he just nodded politely.

Once everyone had had their fill of the lovely dinner Miranda had made, they walked out to the large porch on the West side of the house to watch the sun go down over the mountains. Miranda passed out slices of fresh, homemade apple pie, along with coffee for the adults, and milk for the children.

Miranda tried again to get Eric to open up. "So, Eric, Mike tells me that you lived in Wyoming until you were 8. How do you like Colorado so far?"

"I like it just fine, M'am." He said. She turned to look at Mike, who simply shrugged. He'd never known his nephew to be shy, and he wasn't sure what to make of it.

After they'd all finished their dessert, Mike helped Eric bring his things in from the truck, and placed them in the upstairs bedroom that Miranda had shown him earlier. Because her mother told her to give him some space, Sookie avoided going to Eric's room like she wanted to. Instead, she sat at the top of the stairs, brushing her doll's hair. She was, however, close enough to the room to hear a conversation between Eric and his uncle.

"Uncle Mike, I understand why I can't stay with Grandma during the summer. And, I don't even mind working, but, why can't I stay with you?"

"Eric, you **know** why you can't stay with me. I can only afford to pay the small fee for me to have a room at the boarding house myself. I just can't afford one for you as well. I'm sorry that isn't what you want, truly I am. But, these are good folks. I think you'll really like it here. You just need to make friends with Jason and Sookie, and you'll be having fun in no time. Besides, I'll be here to work every day."

"What if I don't **want** to make friends? Jason won't even look at me. Sookie's nice, but she's a girl. I'm not gonna be friends with a girl."

Mike laughed. "Oh, Eric, I have a feeling that the day will come sooner rather than later where you'll be begging Sookie for her friendship." She heard a snort, and assumed it came from Eric. "Well, if you're all settled in, I've got to be going. I'll be back bright and early in the morning, and we can talk more then, alright?"

"Okay," Eric replied. Sookie heard footsteps, and saw Mike enter the hallway, before she heard Eric's voice yell, "Uncle Mike, wait!?

"What is it, Eric?" Mike asked. And in the next moment, Sookie watched as Eric flung himself into the hallway and gripped his uncle in a tight hug. Mike smiled down at him and hugged him back. After another moment, Mike ruffled Eric's hair, and walked away. As he passed Sookie on the staircase, he said, "Now you watch after him for me, Miss Sookie."

"Sure I will, Mike!" She smiled, and Mike winked at her, and left.

Sookie went into her own bedroom, changed into her pajamas, and lay down in bed. Her room was right next to Eric's, and her bed was against the same wall that his was. If it hadn't have been that way, she probably wouldn't have heard him cry himself to sleep that first night. She promised herself she'd help him be happier, starting first thing tomorrow.

The entire household was up and moving shortly after the sun rose the next morning. Eric knew that working on a ranch took quite a bit of energy, so, he made sure to eat well to support his strength. Once breakfast had been eaten, Sookie and Miranda stayed to clean up and wash the dishes, while Peter and Jason took Eric outside to meet the rest of the crew.

"Eric, this here is Jesse Compton, and that young man over there is his son, Bill. Now Bill is the same age you are, so you will be working with him and Jason the most. Jesse, Mike, and I are going to be branding today, and we've had some accidents in the past," he paused for a moment to glare at Bill, who blushed, "so, you boys won't be needed to help with that. Instead, I'd like for you to take those boards over there and nails and start patching up holes in the stable, and then this afternoon we'll get started on a large portion of the fence that got trampled down."

Eric nodded, and followed behind Jason and Bill. They collected the tools they'd need, and made their way to the stable. Jason led them to the furthest stall, which had several holes in the walls a few feet up from the ground. By way of explanation, Jason said, "a snake got in here somehow, and the buck in this stall is pretty young, and got spooked. He kept kicking the walls, and trying to stomp on the snake." Eric raised his eyebrows and nodded, and they got to work.

After a few minutes of awkward silence, Jason tried to begin a conversation. "So, um, Eric. How come you live with your Grandma? Where's your Mom and Dad?"

Eric looked over at the other boys, who had both stopped working and were watching him intently. "They died about a year and a half ago. My Mom's friend let them use her cabin for a weekend to celebrate their anniversary. I guess they forgot to turn the space heater off before they went to bed, and they died of carbon monoxide poisoning." Eric looked down at his hands, trying to blink back tears before they fell down his cheeks.

Jason and Bill continued to watch Eric for a moment, before Bill finally said, "That sucks. I'm really sorry," and went back to work.

After a couple of hours of hammering away, the holes in the stable were patched, and the boys made their way back to the adults. Seeing their approach, Peter motioned for them to stay where they were, and finished the calf he was working with.

"All done with the stable, boys?" He asked as he walked towards them.

"Yup. We put boards on the inside and outside of each hole. It should hold." Jason said, proud of himself.

Just as Peter was about to say something, they heard a ringing sound coming from the house, and turned to see that Miranda was on the back porch, ringing a large bell, letting them know that it was time for lunch.

They made their way to the small wash area on the porch. After washing their hands, they went into the house to join the women for lunch.

Once everyone was seated, Peter said the mealtime prayer, and they began to eat. Because Jesse and Bill were joining them, an extra chair had been added to each side. Eric sat between Bill and Jason, and on the opposite side, Sookie sat between Mike and Jesse. As everyone ate, Peter began to fill Miranda in on what progress had been made.

"So, what have you got planned for this afternoon?" She asked.

"Well, there's about 40 feet of fence line that got trampled a bit with that last thunderstorm, so, I guess we'll take the boys out there and see if we can't get it all patched up.

Sookie was practically bouncing in her chair as she said, "Ooh, Daddy, can I come too?"

Jason and Bill groaned with irritation, but were quickly silenced with a stern look from both of their fathers. "Well, Princess, I don't necessarily want you swinging a hammer, or playing with nails, but, you're more than welcome to ride out there with us."

Sookie clapped her hands rapidly and giggled, and proceeded to eat her food as fast as she could so she could change into her work clothes.

The men all sat outside, waiting for Peter to give them the go ahead to ride out. They were all mounted on horses, and Eric was excited to get moving, because it'd been a while since he'd ridden. Just when Jason was about to scream at the top of his lungs for his sister to hurry up, she came running out of the house in jeans, a short-sleeved black t-shirt, bright purple cowboy boots, and a matching cowboy hat, with her hair in two braids underneath. Eric thought she looked sort of sweet, but Jason and Bill laughed.

Once Peter had mounted and had Sookie in front of him, they set out. As they rode, Eric got to see for the first time just how beautiful the Stackhouse land was. It was 40 acres, and it was all beautiful. There was a substantial creek running just shy of the fence line, so they tied their horses up so they could drink some water while the men worked.

Peter showed the boys how he wanted things done, and then assigned them each a five foot space to begin with. Eric was closest to Peter, and by extension, to Sookie, who was sitting on the ground handing her father nails. Every couple of minutes she would pipe up with a knock knock joke, or some other silly story she'd learned, trying to keep both herself and her father thoroughly entertained. She even made Eric smile quite a few times, although he was sure she didn't know it.

Once Eric had finished his section, Peter had him shift down to the other end, where Jason and Bill were working. After about 30 more minutes of work, Jason yelled out to his father that they needed more nails, so Peter sent Sookie to him with a box full.

As she was reaching to hand the box of nails to her brother, he swiped his foot at her ankles, causing her to fall into a large mud puddle. Bill and Jason roared with laughter, while Eric stayed silent, just watching.

Sookie stood up, stuck her tongue out at her brother, and went down to the creek to wash herself off. As she was bent over rinsing her hands in the chilly water, Bill and Jason crept up behind her. Just as she was beginning to stand, Jason pushed her sharply in the back, and she landed in the creek on her knees. Both boys laughed, pointing at the now soaked little girl. Sookie stood, climbed out of the creek, and looked at her brother, tears streaming down her face.

"I'm telling Daddy," she said softly, hiccupping between words.

Jason just laughed harder. "Go ahead. All it's gonna do is make it so that you can't come next time, because he **needs** our help, but he doesn't need **you** out here getting hurt." She turned, walking away, her body shaking from the cold.

Jason and Bill turned and walked back towards Eric. "I wish that stupid brat would just get the hint and stay home with Mom where she's supposed to be. Working on a ranch is a job for men, not little girls." Bill grunted in agreement, and they got back to work. Eric kept replaying the incident in the back of his mind. He thought that it was very mean of Jason to treat his sister that way, but, because he was the odd man out, he decided to stay quiet about it.

A few minutes later, Peter approached them. "Boys, we need to be heading back. It's starting to get late, and it seems that Sookie fell in the creek, so I'd like to get her in some dry clothes before she gets sick." He turned his back and starting walking, and Jason and Bill gave each other a high five.

When they got back to the house, Jesse and Bill said their goodbyes and headed home, while Miranda took Sookie upstairs to take a hot bath, and change into some dry clothes. When they finally made it back downstairs, Jason and Eric had already set the table for dinner, and they all took their seats. Once Peter had said the prayer, Miranda spoke up.

"Jason, is there anything you want to tell me about this afternoon?"

He looked at his mother with feigned innocence. "What do you mean?"

Miranda and Peter made eye contact, and Miranda spoke again. "Jason, tell me the truth. Did you push your sister into the creek?"

Jason held his head high and looked his mother straight in the eye and said, "No. She'd gotten muddy, went down to the creek and fell in."

Sookie shouted, "LIAR! You tripped me into the mud when I was givin' you more nails, and then you pushed me into the creek!"

After a moment of thoughtful silence, Miranda turned to Eric and said, "Eric, what's the truth? Did he push her, or did she fall in?"

Eric glanced at Jason, who looked perfectly calm, sure the other boy would back him up. Then he turned his glance to Sookie, who looked like he was her life line. He knew this was bigger than just telling what happened. This would determine which of the siblings would be his friend. He could say Jason was telling the truth, and be friends with two other boys his own age. Or, he could say Sookie was, and have a girl 2 years his junior to hang around with.

"Jason's telling the truth, M'am." He said quietly. He didn't dare to look at Sookie.

"Very well. Sookie, you know we don't tolerate lying. You're grounded for a week. Now go to your room." She put her silverware on her plate, stood, and left the room without saying a word.

Eric barely saw her during for the rest of the week. She was at the table with them at mealtime, but she never spoke a word, unless she was asked a direct question. She never once looked at him. He was sorry that she'd been punished, but, since his friendship with Jason was growing, he couldn't bring himself to tell the truth.

As the weeks passed, Eric began to feel more and more comfortable. He was beginning to have fun with Jason and Bill, and loved working with his Uncle Mike every day. He got along with Miranda and Peter well because he always tried his hardest, and they appreciated his effort. The only problem was Sookie.

He expected her to yell, or hit him, just do **something**. But, she treated him with indifference. She stopped asking to help with any of the work, and stayed in the house with her mother instead. He overheard Mike and Peter talking about it, once. Peter couldn't understand why his adventurous little girl had suddenly turned so shy. Jason and Bill took every chance they could get to tease her. Eric never participated, but, he also never stopped them. In his own mind, and he assumed in hers, that made him as guilty as the other two.

On his final day, Miranda fixed all his favorite foods, and Bill and Jesse joined them for dinner. They'd forgone using the dinner room table, and instead were sitting on picnic benches just off the porch. Sookie sat by herself on the steps, and didn't utter a word the entire time. The next morning, Mike loaded all of Eric's things into his while Eric said his goodbyes. He hugged Miranda, and told Peter and Jason he was looking forward to working with them again. He ran up to his room to make sure he'd gotten everything, and noticed Sookie sitting on her bed.

"Sookie?" He said softly, standing in her doorway.

"Yes?" She said, not bothering to look up at him.

"Um, I'm leaving now to go back to my Grandma's. I'll see ya next summer, okay?"

"Okay. Goodbye." She hadn't looked at him the entire time.

After a few minutes on the road, Mike looked to Eric, and asked him what was bothering him.

"I messed up, Uncle Mike. I said something I shouldn't have said, and someone good got their feelings hurt."

Mike sighed. "Eric, give her time. I'm sure by next summer, Sookie will be ready to give you another try to be friends."

Eric looked at him, slightly shocked that he'd known exactly who Eric was talking about.

Mike laughed and said, "You'll come to learn that, at the Stackhouse place, if the women aren't happy, everyone feels it." Eric could only wonder what that meant.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N Okay, I have to admit, I'm kinda bummed. In the first ten hours that chapter 1 was posted, I got a ton of messages saying that several people had added this to their alerts, favorites, etc. I looked it up, and there had been 200 hits! I was psyched! However, OF those 200 hits, there had only been 2 reviews. I'm hoping it's because chapter 1 really wasn't all THAT different from the original oneshot. However, that is NOT the case with chapter 2. This new chapter is 1500 words longer than the same section in the original one shot. If you're enjoying, PLEASE submit a review! It's honestly one of the only ways I know that you're enjoying the story! Okay, I'll jump off my soap box now...enjoy!**

The next several years passed in much the same way. Sookie stayed at the house while the men went out to do their various jobs on the ranch. Sookie never quite warmed to Eric, and while they were friendly with one another, they never became friends. Eric continued to spend most of his free time with Jason and Bill. Although the tricks had tapered off, they were constantly teasing Sookie. As always, Eric didn't join it, but he didn't stop it, either.

Things began to change the summer after Eric, Jason and Bill all turned 18. Normally, they were all finished with school around the same time. However, due to a mass outbreak of the flu that shut down the school, Jason, Bill and Sookie still had two more weeks of class left by the time Eric arrived at the ranch.

Because they were graduating, Jason and Bill's teachers were taking it easy on the seniors, so they really didn't have any homework at all. Sookie, on the other hand, was swamped. Almost every evening after dinner, Jason, Bill and Eric would drive into town to hang out with a bunch of Jason and Bill's school friends.

Upon his mother's insistence, Jason invited Sookie to go with them one night as well. Bill and Eric stood in the hallway outside of Sookie's room while Jason went in to talk to her.

"Sook, we're gonna head into town and grab a milkshake. I guess it'd be okay if you wanted to come along for the ride." It wasn't hard to pick up on his lack of enthusiasm.

"Um, that's okay, Jason. I've got a math test tomorrow, and I'm having a really hard time with this chapter, so, I should probably stay home and study."

He didn't even wait until she was finished talking before he started to walk out the door, relieved that he wouldn't have to bring her along. Bill turned to follow Jason down the stairs, but Eric held back.

"Hey guys, I think I'm actually gonna sit this one out, okay."

Jason and Bill turned to look at him, the expressions on their faces clearly showing they thought he was nuts. "Fine, whatever. More girls pay attention to me when you're not around, anyway," Jason said with a laugh, and he and Bill left.

After a moment's hesitation, Eric approached Sookie's open door, and lightly knocked on the doorframe. She looked up, surprised to see him.

"Yes?"

"Hey, I heard you tell Jason you're having a hard time with your math. It was always my best subject. Do you want some help?"

She looked at him in silence for a moment, before shaking her head and saying, "Nah, that's okay. I think I'll be able to figure it out on my own. Thanks anyway, though."

"Well, you know where to find me if you changed your mind."

"Yup."

He went downstairs to grab a soda from the kitchen, and then went back to his room. He had a feeling that if he waited long enough, she'd change her mind.

A little over an hour later, he could hear her growling in frustration. He felt bad, knowing that she really was struggling. This was new territory for him. He'd never seen her attempt anything that she wasn't good at almost from the first try. He began to realize that her pride would not allow her to ask for help. He smiled, coming up with a plan.

Sookie had put her hair in a ponytail, thinking it would be the only way to keep from pulling it all out by the roots! She'd never had this much trouble with schoolwork before. She was beyond frustrated. She'd considered asking Eric for help about 50 times in the past hour, but she just couldn't bring herself to do it.

She was on the verge of throwing in the towel, when some movement in her doorway caught her eye. She looked up, and saw the strangest thing. An arm (because she couldn't see the rest of the person) was in front of her door, and in its hand was what looked like some toilet paper taped to the end of a pencil. The hand was waving the pencil frantically.

She was about to walk into the hallway to see what was going on, when Eric finally stepped into the doorway, and continued to wave the pencil around. "White flag of truce," he asked?

She laughed, and waved for him to come in. He sat down next to her on her bed, and spent the next two hours making sure she knew the quadratic equation like the back of her hand.

Eric was already outside, putting a new coat of paint on the porch when Jason and Sookie left for school. As they passed by him, he shouted "Good luck!" to Sookie, who smiled at him and nodded. He didn't see her again at all that day, however. As soon as she got home from school, she left with Miranda to go help out an elderly woman who had broken her hip a few weeks before, and still needed help around the house.

He'd almost completely forgotten about the tutoring session until two days later. He was sitting on top of the picnic table in the backyard with Jason and Bill, listening to Jason go on about some hot date he'd had. Sookie came running up to them, and without preamble, threw herself onto the table next to Eric and pressed a huge kiss to his cheek.

"What the hell was that all about, Sookie?" Jason asked.

"Well, thanks to Mr. Math God here," she pointed her thumb at Eric, "I got an A on my math test!"

Eric smiled, and put his arm around her shoulder, pulling her into a sort of half-hug. "I knew you could do it, Sook."

A moment later, Miranda's voice called out for Sookie to come help with supper, so she winked at Eric, and got up and ran inside. Jason just shook his head and laughed. Bill, however, had a scowl on his face. Eric couldn't quite figure out why, though. It couldn't have been jealousy. Bill had never been anything but downright nasty to Sookie. He shrugged it off, figuring it didn't really matter anyway.

At the end of the second week, Eric attended Jason and Bill's graduation ceremony with the rest of the Stackhouse family, and at dinner the next night, they all discussed their plans for the future. Jason had been accepted at Colorado State University, and Eric would be attending the University of Texas. Bill had opted not to go to college, and continue to work at the ranch with Mike, Peter, and Jesse. However, knowing that Jason and Eric would no longer be around to help, Peter decided that Sookie should start learning some of the easier tasks so she could help out when needed.

There were several jobs that he figured she could accomplish fairly easily, once she'd been shown how. Since their math session had gone so well, Peter suggested that perhaps Sookie would learn best if working with Eric. So, for the first three weeks of her summer break, Sookie spent almost every waking moment with Eric.

The first job that Peter assigned her to do solo was what they jokingly referred to as Border Patrol. At least twice a day she was instructed to ride out to the edges of the property, follow the fence line, making sure that all of the cattle were accounted for, and the fence remained undamaged. There had been several reports of cattle thieves in the area, so they needed to be vigilant.

One hot July afternoon while Sookie was patrolling, the men were in horse exercise pen, working on breaking in two new colts. They didn't hear the pounding of hooves coming, but, sure enough, they heard Sookie's screams.

"Daddy! Daddy! Quick!!"

"What's wrong, Sook?" Jason yelled as soon as she was in better hearing distance.

"There's a mountain lion attacking the herd out by the creek!"

The men immediately jumped to action. Jason closed the entrance to the pen so that the young horses couldn't get out, and grabbed two shot guns from the stable wall, throwing one to his father, and one to Eric. After grabbing another for himself, he jumped on his horse, and they were all off.

By the time they reached the creek, they could see that the cat was no longer alone. It had been joined by two others. They had already taken down three cows, and seemed to be prowling for another. It was difficult to get at a good enough angle to shoot the cats, because the cattle were running frantically, and the horses were uneasy with the chaos. Everyone knew that Jason had the best aim, so the plan was for Eric and Peter to shoot into the air to try and spook the cattle into going a certain direction, while Bill, Mike, Jesse and Sookie did their best to coral the cats together. This worked and Jason was able to take down two of the cats, but the third, and largest, was proving difficult.

Just when they thought they had the cat cornered, it decided to try one last desperate escape attempt. The cat sprung out, lunging at Sookie's horse. Just as it left the ground, Jason fired, finally successful in killing the animal. However, between the near attack and the boom of the shotgun, Sookie's horse had become very frightened. The mare reared up and moved backwards, causing Sookie to loose her grip on the reigns, and tumble out of her saddle. The force with which the mare tossed her propelled Sookie into the waters of the creek. Unfortunately, it had been a very wet winter, and the water was high and fast.

The moment he saw her body hit the water, Eric vaulted from his horse and ran to help her. However, with the fast moving rapids, it was difficult to see where she was. He finally saw her back rise above the surface, and he instinctively knew she had been knocked unconscious. He ran along the bank until he was just ahead of her, and then plunged head first into the frigid water. He had always been a strong swimmer, but he still struggled to get to her. By the time he reached her and pulled her to him, she had been without air for at least three minutes. He was able to keep her head above the surface as he swam with her back to the shore.

As he lay her still body on the bank of the creek, he noticed a trail of blood running out of her hair, and thought she'd hit her head on a rock, which would explain the loss of consciousness. After a quick assessment, he knew she wasn't breathing, and he began CPR, thankful he'd learned how in school. He continued to push on Sookie's chest, and blow into her mouth, willing her heart to beat and her lungs to breathe. He could hear the other men yelling and coming toward him, but he was entirely focused on her. "Come on Sookie, breathe damnit!" He yelled as he continued. "Breathe. Come on Sookie, you can do it."

Just as Peter reached them, Sookie's chest rose as she coughed hard, finally taking in breath on her own. Eric rolled her onto her side as she continued to cough the water up and out of her lungs. Once her coughing calmed down a bit, Eric lifted her into Peter's arms, and he took off for the house, in order to get her to the hospital. Eric stood, dripping wet and freezing cold, watching them ride away from him.

The minute they were close to the house, Jason got off his horse and ran inside. He yelled for his mother to come quickly, and he grabbed the keys to the truck, and several blankets. Sookie was breathing, but she was still unconscious. Jason and Miranda wrapped her shivering body in a blanket, and Peter climbed into the backseat of his pick-up with her still in his arms. Jason got behind the wheel, and Miranda was in the passenger seat. Jesse yelled to them that he would follow with Bill in his truck, and they left only a moment later.

Mike stayed back at the house, making sure to put the horses back in the stable while he waited for Eric to return. He looked out across the land, and saw him making his way back to the house slowly, and figured he was trying to calm himself down.

When he finally arrived, Mike told him where everyone else was, and insisted that he take a hot shower to warm up before they did anything else. Once he'd showered and put on dry clothes, they drove to join everyone else at the hospital. They found everyone but Miranda in the waiting room.

"They won't let more than one visitor back there with her at a time," Jason explained as they approached. "Mom's with her right now."

Eric turned to Peter, not sure how to ask what the prognosis was. "You got her out in time, Eric. The doctor said she's got a concussion from hitting her head on a rock, and she needed three stitches to close the wound. They're a little worried about infections from all the germs in the creek, so they want to keep her overnight and pump her full of antibiotics. Other than that, she's gonna be okay." Eric felt a huge weight lift from his shoulders, one he hadn't realized he'd been carrying.

Mike and Eric took a seat, and everyone waited in silence. After an hour, Jesse and Bill said that they were going to head home, since she was alright, and that they'd visit her tomorrow, and the silence returned. Peter, Mike and Jason had each picked up a magazine, and were reading to pass the time. Eric, however, just stared down at the tile floor beneath his feet. Even knowing she would be okay, he knew his nerves would only calm once he saw her for himself. After another hour had passed, Miranda entered the waiting room, and placed her hand on Eric's shoulder.

"Eric," she said, and his head snapped up to look at her. "She's asking for you, Hun."

Eric was surprised, but, pleasantly so. He nodded, and stood to follow Miranda down the hall to Sookie's room. Once they reached the door, Miranda smiled at him, leaned in to kiss him on the cheek, and simply said, "Thank you, Eric, for saving her life." Before he could respond, she turned and walked away.

He knocked softly on the door, and then pushed it open and entered. Sookie had been resting, but when she heard him enter, she opened her eyes and looked at him. A bright smile lit up her entire face, and she said, "Eric."

"Hey there, Sook. How ya feel?" He sat down in a chair next to her bed, she reached out and he took her hand.

"I'm okay. Sore as hell, but, it could've been much worse, so I really can't complain." She tried to laugh, but it made her cough painfully. After she composed herself, she smiled at him again. "Eric, I can't even begin to thank you for what you did. You are the only reason I'm still here."

He shook his head. "Nah, Sook, you're still here cause you're stubborn as hell and wouldn't let a stupid cat ruin your future." He chuckled a bit at her smile. "Besides, if anybody else had been closer to you, they would've done the same."

"I know. But it wasn't anybody else. It was you. And I'm grateful." She squeezed his hand, and he saw a tear trickle down her cheek. He absently ran circles over the back of her hand with his thumb, and eventually she went back to sleep. He stood, laid her hand on her stomach, and leaned in to place a kiss to her forehead. Then, he left the room and went to join the others.

While he had been with Sookie, it had been decided that Miranda would stay the night here, and the rest of them would go home. Mike and Eric drove back to the Stackhouse place, while Peter and Jason stopped to pick up a couple of pizzas. Once they'd eaten, Mike left, and the three other men went to bed. Lying in his bed that night, all Eric could think about was how wrong the world would've felt without her in it.

Sookie was released from the hospital just after lunchtime the next day, and arrived home to see balloons and a big 'Welcome Home' banner hanging from the front porch. She instinctively knew that Mike, Jesse, and her father were responsible for this. She couldn't imagine Jason, Bill and Eric doing anything that sweet…or that corny.

She paused for a moment, her mind returning once again to the tall blonde boy who'd saved her life. No, that wasn't right. Eric was no longer a boy. He was a man. He had been in her eyes for quite some time, now. She thought back to that first summer he came to the ranch. She was so certain they'd be friends. But, when faced with the choice of backing Jason or Sookie, Eric had chosen Jason. She was mad at first, because she got punished for lying, when in fact she was the only one telling the truth. She had convinced herself that she hated him for it. And, at the time, she had. But, once he returned the next year, she knew that was no longer the case. She couldn't blame him for what he'd done. Even if she could never admit it out loud, she'd understood his reasoning. She'd wanted to try and make amends and be friends, but, with the way that Bill and Jason still treated her, she knew that he would ruin any progress he'd made with them if he befriended her. So, rather than torture herself with being around someone she so desperately wanted to be friends with but couldn't be, she'd opted to stay at the house with her mother, seeing Eric as little as possible.

But now, that had all changed. They would be short staffed around the ranch once Jason left for college in the fall, so, her father decided to have her start working with them, again. After only a few weeks of working with the men everyday, she came to realize that she'd developed a very large crush on Eric. But, she also knew that she didn't stand a chance with him. He was 18, he was a man. She was still just a little girl, or, at least in **his** eyes she was. Not that she blamed him. She was slow in developing, and still had a fairly stick straight figure, and not much of a bust. But, he **had** saved her life. And, when he thought she had been asleep, he'd pressed a kiss to her forehead. She knew he'd never see her as more than a friend, but, she'd definitely take his friendship over nothing.

While she was recovering from her injuries, her father had insisted that she stay at the house again, and they'd worry about getting her trained later. She tried to spend as much time around Eric as was possible. She'd overheard Jason and Bill talking once, and they said it was 'hero-worship' because he'd saved her life. She hoped that was what Eric thought as well. She would be mortified if he knew the truth.

They grew very close that year, and it hurt her badly when he left for college. His Grandmother had suffered a stroke early in the summer, and was now living in a full-time care facility, so, he'd agreed to come back again next summer, as long as he could leave for a few days at a time to go and visit her. Sookie tried so hard to hold back the tears she knew would come when he left. But, in the end, they flowed down her cheeks, anyway. Everyone just attributed them to the fact that both Eric **and** Jason were leaving at the same time. Sure, she'd miss her brother, they'd never been apart for more than a week at a time. But, she knew deep down that all of her tears were for Eric. He promised he'd email her, and said he'd talk to her on the phone at Christmas time. She wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him close, and he tilted his head down and placed a kiss on the top of her head. "Be good, little one!" He said, and then was gone.

Bill watched him leave with contempt in his heart. He and Eric had been friends for years, but, no more. Bill refused to stand aside and let Eric simply take what was always meant to be his. He'd known, deep down, that Sookie was meant for him. He'd been annoyed by her when they were children, but that was no longer the case.

She had been raised well. She obeyed her parents, and never spoke out of turn. He was relieved that he wouldn't have to take the time to train her to be a good wife. He also knew that, even though he was not physically attracted to her now, he would be someday soon. She had a pleasant enough face, and she'd always had lovely hair. She was still stick straight, and her chest was flat as a board. But, from he knew it was only a matter of time. He'd spent years finding the best places and time to spy on Miranda, and had been rewarded with seeing her naked, or close to it, several times. She had a very delicious body. He'd pleasure himself many a time thinking of Miranda Stackhouse. He had no doubt that, given a little more time, Sookie's body would be just as delectable.

He thought back to the day that she was almost lost. Everyone else had been so frightened that Sookie would die that day with the mountain lions. Bill hadn't been afraid though. He'd been furious. If Sookie had been taken from him, there would've been hell to pay. His hands clenched into fists as he remembered riding his horse to join the others, and seeing Eric lying on the ground, performing CPR on Sookie. **His** Sookie. He had barely been able to contain his rage. He knew he'd rather have Sookie die than have another put their lips on her ever again.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N Sorry this is getting posted a little later than I would've liked. I've had some things come up, but I hope to start posting a little more frequently in the future. Enjoy!!**

Although he knew it was just Texas, as far as Eric was concerned, he'd moved to another planet. He'd only ever lived in smaller towns, and he had expected to be overwhelmed by the amount of people in such a small area, but this was much more than he'd anticipated. Luckily, he had at least a couple of friends with him to soften the blow. Stan Davis and Joseph Velasquez, two of his friends from high school, were also attending classes there, and they had all gotten an apartment together just off of campus. Stan's older brother, Mike, already had a place in the same building, so, he showed them around and helped them to get situated in their new area.

Eric and Stan had become friends midway through their junior year, when they'd discovered they had something interesting in common. Both had lost their virginity to the same girl, and, oddly enough, within a few days of each other. They'd found out later on that they weren't alone. Apparently, Dawn Green really got around. Stan and Joseph had been best friends since elementary, so it was nearly impossible to hang out with Stan without having Joseph there as well. It reminded Eric a lot of the relationship between Jason and Bill back in Colorado.

To Eric's surprise, he was instantly popular with the female students. He'd been on a few dates in high school, but, he'd literally grown up with all the other kids at school, and they'd seen him go through his awkward growth spurts. But, here, all they knew of him was what was here and now. And apparently, his now was something kinda special. He wasn't so naïve that he didn't know he was good looking. He'd finally stopped growing at 6'4", and due to the physical nature of his job on the ranch, he'd always been muscular. Shortly after arriving in Texas, he'd cut his hair short to accommodate for the heat and humidity. He went on a few dates, but never got too much into the social scene, wanting to focus more on his classes.

"Eric, seriously, I get that you want to make your Grandma proud by getting good grades. I know that since she shelled out a lot of money for your tuition you're taking this whole college thing very seriously. I respect that, really I do. But, **come on**. You can still work hard and get good grades without sitting on your ass in the apartment every weekend!" Stan said while trying to persuade Eric to go to a party one Friday night.

"Stan, I told you, I have a paper due on Monday, and it counts for 40% of my grade in my political science class. I can't afford to let it slide."

"Eric, you've got all fucking weekend to work on your damn paper. I'll tell ya what, you come to this party with us tonight, and I promise you Joseph and I will tiptoe around the apartment for the rest of the weekend, so you'll have all day Saturday and Sunday to write your paper."

Eric sat in contemplation for a moment, his eyes darting back and forth between his laptop and Stan. It **had** been a while since he'd gone out with his roommates. He sighed. "I'm in." He went to his bedroom to change from his gym shorts and wife beater into a nice pair of jeans and a tight black t-shirt that accentuated his muscular chest. If he was going to go out, he might as well go **all** out. As he was preparing to power down his laptop on his way out, it chimed, letting him know he'd received a new e-mail. He clicked on it to see who it was from, ignoring the fact that Stan was also checking over his shoulder. It was, however, very hard to miss the annoyed groan Stan let out.

"It's from Sookie, **again**. Forget it for now, Eric, I'm not waiting an hour while you write her back. You can read and respond tomorrow."

Eric's hand hesitated over the keyboard for a brief moment until Stan slammed the laptop shut and pushed Eric towards the door. Eric made sure to give him a look of warning that it had better not happen again.

Once the three of them were in Stan's car and on their way, Joseph said, "now, remind me again who the hell this chick is that keeps e-mailing you, Eric?"

"Her parents own the ranch that I work at every summer. We've known each other for like 6 ½ years. She's like a sister to me."

"Sure Northman, whatever. I highly doubt she e-mails her brother as much as she does you." Stan just had to comment.

"Stan, no," Eric responded firmly. "Don't you dare turn this into something it's not. It's not like that with me and her. The whole time she was growing up, her brother and his friend were always tormenting and teasing her. Most of the time it was little stuff, but sometimes they were incredibly cruel. I never got involved in it, so she trusts me more than them."

"Yeah, not to mention the fact that you saved her life last year."

"Yeah, but so what? Any of the other guys there would've done it if they had been closer to her than I was." He was getting sick of having this same conversation over and over with his roommates and their friends.

Just as Stan was opening his mouth to say something else, Eric said, "Drop it." No one said another word until they arrived at their destination.

Two hours later, Eric stood against a wall, taking in the scene before him. Dozens of college students, most of whom were under age, drinking, and acting generally stupid. He was reminded why this just wasn't his thing. Sure, he liked to let loose and have fun, too. But, he'd been raised to put a higher priority on work, than play. 'Finish what needs to be done before you have fun,' was one of his Grandmother's favorite phrases.

Finally around 1am, Joseph and Stan were just drunk enough for him to convince them that it was time to leave. He drove Stan's car home, and made sure his roommates both actually made it into their own beds. He showered, put on a pair of lounge pants, and grabbed his laptop before lying down in bed. He pulled up his e-mail account, and immediately opened his message from Sookie.

_TO: __vikingcowboy _

_FROM: crazysookie _

_Eric_

_How are things? Everything here is pretty good. I have to take my ACT test soon, so, Daddy has been giving me a break from working so I can study. Between that, and Jason not being here, it's basically doubled Bill's workload. He never complains (out loud) about it, but, it's easy to tell he hates it!! Tara came over the other night and she said he deserves the extra work for all the times he teased me growing up. He hasn't been as bad without Jason here, though. Speaking of Tara, remember how I told you that her family is taking a long trip this summer to the East coast? They invited me to go with them!! Mama said as long as I get good enough grades, I can go. The only class I'm having a hard time in is pre-calculus, but that's no surprise. I've never been good at math. Gee, I wish I had someone here to help me with that…wink wink nudge nudge._

_Are you excited to go home for Christmas? I'm glad Jason's coming home. It just feels weird not having him here. Hey, do you think you could buy a hat for Daddy from your school and mail it? I'll pay you back for it. He's a big fan of the football team, and I think it would make a nice Christmas present. _

_Tara's dog Ginger finally had her puppies. I really wanted one, but, Mama is allergic. So, I just go over to Tara's a lot to play with them. I'm sending you a couple pictures of them._

_Well, I guess I should get back to studying. Write me back when you can, okay? I really miss you. Oh, we got the pictures you emailed us. I like the haircut._

_Love Sookie_

He opened the attachment to look at the four pictures. Two of them were just of the dogs, which were cute, but didn't interest him all that much. One was of Tara smiling and holding a puppy. The last was of Sookie, smiling brightly as a puppy licked her cheek. He laughed to himself as he wrote a reply and sent it to her.

He was about to power down the computer, but after a moment's hesitation, he brought back up the picture of Sookie with the puppy. Now that he was taking a closer look, he noticed a few changes in her. He face had thinned out a little, which made her dimples more prominent. Although the picture only showed from her abdomen up, he could tell that her body had begun to develop. He chuckled, remembering a night when he'd overheard Sookie complaining to Tara that she thought she'd never "get boobs." Looks like she no longer needed to worry about that. Her hair was down, which was a nice change, because she normally had it pulled up to keep it out of the way. He'd always thought she had very lovely hair. It was the exact same color as his, subsequently, making it the exact color of his mother's. He felt the familiar, faint ache in his heart whenever he thought of his parents. He shook his head, pushing the thought aside, deciding to go to sleep so he would be refreshed enough to work on his paper the next day. He quickly turned his laptop off, but not before making the picture of Sookie his new desktop background.

Back in Colorado, Sookie woke just before sunrise, as was her habit. She made use of the bathroom, and decided to go to the kitchen for a glass of juice to drink while watching the sunrise from the front porch. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed her open laptop indicating she had a new e-mail, so she took the computer with her. She smiled as she made her way into the kitchen. Jason had been so mad when their parents gave her a laptop at the end of the previous school year. She'd gotten straight A's for the first time ever, and they wanted to reward her for her hard work.

She poured herself a glass of orange juice, grabbed an afghan from the living room, and sat down on the porch swing. Once she was comfortable and wrapped up like a mummy, she opened her e-mail account, and wasn't able to suppress a squeal of pure joy. Her e-mail was from Eric.

_TO: crazysookie _

_FROM: vikingcowboy _

_Sook,_

_It's good to hear from ya. Things here are going pretty good. Everyone is a lot more laid back than I would've thought. My roommates don't seem to take going to class very seriously. In fact, they dragged me to some stupid party tonight that I really didn't want to go to. I have a paper due Monday that I wanted to work on, but, they convinced me to go with them anyway. I think they might've just wanted a guaranteed designated driver! I wasn't too happy about putting off my paper until tomorrow, but, nothing I can do about that now!_

_Yeah, I wasn't really looking forward to getting my hair cut, but, it's so hot and humid down here I just couldn't stand it anymore. I'll stop by the bookstore one day next week and pick out a hat for your dad and put it in the mail as soon as I can. Don't worry about trying to send me the money for it right away. Just pay me back next summer, and we'll call it all good._

_I'm glad to see that you're taking your ACT's so seriously. I remember talking to Jason and Bill about them once, and they acted like it didn't matter at all. But, if you don't do well, you won't get to go to a good college. It's never taken a lot to see that out of you and Jason, you're the one who thinks with their brain and not their social life!!_

_I'm not at all surprised that Bill isn't happy about doing extra work. I know that he won't slack off and do a bad job, because he has too much respect for your dad, but, he also won't hesitate to try and use it towards his advantage sometime down the road._

_You'll have to make sure to take lots of pictures on your trip with Tara (I know it's not set in stone that you're going, but, you ALWAYS get good grades, so it might as well be). I've always wanted to go to Gettysburg, but, I've never been able to make it. Maybe someday._

_Well, I'd better be getting to sleep so I can do a good job on my paper. Tell your parents hi for me. _

_--Eric_

_PS...I liked the pics. You look really pretty with your hair down._

Sookie gently closed her laptop, closed her eyes, and sighed with contentment.

"How come you're so happy this morning, princess?" Sookie nearly jumped out of her seat at the sound of her father's voice. He chuckled a little in response.

"Daddy, you nearly scared me to death! You're lucky I didn't spill juice all over my computer!"

Peter lightly picked her feet up, sat down on the swing, and laid her feet on his lap. "And just why do you have your computer out here with you so early, young lady? I thought you were going to be spending the day studying for your test?" He did his best to give her a reproachful look.

She shrugged and said, "I am going to study. But, I forgot to turn the computer off last night, and I saw that I had a new idea, so, I brought it out with me to read my email before I had to go help Mama with breakfast."

"Aahh," came her father's response. "And, am I correct in assuming that your email was from a certain tall blonde currently residing in Texas?"

Sookie was unsuccessful at hiding her blush. "Yes, it was from Eric. I sent him a message yesterday evening with the picture of the new puppies, and he was just writing back."

Peter nodded, knowing that it didn't take anything big like the arrival of the puppies for Sookie to want to speak with Eric. When his children were much younger, he'd had it in his mind that Sookie would grow to marry Bill Compton. But, as they grew older, Peter began to fear that, more than desire it. He saw cruelty in Bill's eyes, and he wouldn't want his only daughter to live like that. However, he could never bring himself to fire Bill, because despite his character flaws, he was a hard worker.

Peter liked Eric Northman, both as an employee and as a person. He was strong, had an incredible work ethic, and never complained. He was also intelligent, funny, and genuinely kind-hearted. Peter knew that he had Eric to thank for his daughter's life. He'd also been aware that the way Sookie looked at Eric, and interacted with him, had changed dramatically after that terrible day when she was almost lost.

"Sookie, it's time to come in and cook breakfast now, please." His wife's voice behind him broke Peter from his thoughts. He watched as Sookie stood, folded her blanket, and put it and her computer inside so she could help her mother. He realized that it wasn't who she ended up with that mattered most, but that she was happy, and well cared for. And he'd do everything in his power to ensure that happened.

A few hours later, after the men had all gone out to work, Tara arrived so that she and Sookie could go over the practice test they'd been given for their upcoming exams. They quizzed each other back and forth for about 45 minutes before Tara groaned in frustration.

"Sookie, what is with you? That's the fourth question in a row that you've been completely wrong on. Your head isn't in this."

"I'm sorry, Tara. I guess I'm just a little distracted is all." Tara didn't miss Sookie's eyes flitting over to glance at her laptop on the dresser.

"Eric wrote back, huh?"

Sookie gave her friend a sheepish smile. "Am I really that obvious?"

"Nah. I'm your best friend, I'd be failing at my job if I didn't read you right. Well come on then, let's see the e-mail."

Sookie's smiled broadened as she jumped off her bed to grab her computer. She opened up the message from Eric, and allowed Tara to read it. She waited anxiously for her friend's opinion.

"Well, he wrote you back in a timely manner, which is good. He kinda insulted Bill, in a roundabout way, which gives him points in my book." Tara had never been a big fan of Bill's. "Plus, he said it was good to hear from you, and that you looked pretty with your hair down. All in all, I'd say this was pretty good!"

Sookie closed her eyes and felt her smile widen. After a moment of bliss, her eyes popped open to refocus on Tara. "There is **one** thing though that I'm a little hesitant about." She waited for Tara to nod before continuing. "Okay, we both know that Eric takes school **very** seriously, and that his class work is his highest priority, right? Well, he let his roommates talk him into going out for a few hours, because he'd have the weekend to work on his paper, right?"

Tara nodded, wondering when Sookie was going to get to the point.

"He put off working on his paper until today, but, he made sure to take the time to write me back last night before he went to sleep. Does that mean something? Or am I reading too much into it?"

Tara smiled and rolled her eyes. "Sookie, I guess it could mean something, but, I don't think you should get your hopes up about it just yet. Wait and see if his continues to respond to your messages pretty quick." Sookie nodded, and picked back up her practice exam. As Tara sat the laptop back on the dresser, she couldn't help but smile to herself. She was fairly certain that the timing of Eric's response **did** mean something; she just wasn't sure what it was, yet.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N Sorry this took so long to post. Unfortunately, real life sometimes has to be the priority!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own these characters, Charlaine Harris does. I just like borrow them for play time.**

Stan and his girlfriend, Isabelle, had been seeing each other since shortly after the beginning of the spring semester in January. She spent quite a lot of time at Stan's place, so she got to know Joseph and Eric quite well. She thought that Joseph was sort of boring, but, she got along very well with Eric.

Isabelle knew how important his education was to Eric, because of the values instilled in him by his grandmother. She admired that. It was this knowledge that led her to worry when she walked into the apartment the last day of finals week to find him sitting on the couch, with his head in his hands.

"Eric, what are you still doing here? You only have an hour before for your history final, shouldn't you be heading to campus?" Eric looked up at her, and she could see that he'd been crying. "What's wrong?"

"I just got off the phone with my Uncle Mike. He said that my Grandmother passed away last night in her sleep." His voice sounded completely hollow, and it tugged at her heart.

She sat down next to him, and put her hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him. "Eric, I'm so sorry. I know how much she means to you." They sat in companionable silence together for a while, before Eric spoke again.

"I was a huge mess when my parents died. But, she was so strong for me. It's never right for a parent to outlive their children, and I know that it completely broke her heart when she had to bury her daughter. But, she wouldn't let me wallow in self pity. She just kept pushing and pushing, telling me that Mom and Dad would want me to get back to the business of living. She was my rock. With her gone, I'm all alone. Who am I going to lean on, now?"

"Eric, you are **not** alone. First of all, you still have your uncle." She hesitated for a moment as she watched tears begin to fall down his cheeks once again. "Plus, you've got Sookie."

He thought about that for a moment. Yes, he still had Uncle Mike. His only living relative. They would have to be there for each other, now. He thought of how his friendship with Sookie had progressed the previous summer, and knew that she would do anything in her power to help him cope with his loss. It **would** be enough. It had to be.

Eric stood, pulling Isabelle up with him and into a hug. "Thanks, Belles. You're right. It's just going to take a little getting used to, is all. I'd better be heading over to take my test. I'll talk to you later, okay?"

He gently hugged her once again, grabbed his things, and started walking towards campus to take the last of his final exams. The closer he got to campus, the harder he tried to push everything to the back of his mind, and concentrate solely on the task at hand. When he arrived at the lecture hall, he stood still and took a few calming breaths before walking in.

Two hours later, he found himself in a daze, headed back to his apartment. He'd been able to focus on the test, but, the moment he left the building, sorrow had washed over him. He took his cell phone from his pocket, and turned it on, having shut it off during the test. He had two new voice messages.

"Eric, it's Mike. I suppose you're probably taking your exam right now. Give me a call when you can and we'll start making travel arrangements to get you back up here as soon as possible. I need to meet with the people at the funeral home, but, I'd like to put that off until you get here, if I can. This is something we need to do together. I'll talk to ya later. Love ya kiddo."

Eric couldn't help but smile a little. He was 19 years old, and was at least 5 inches taller than his uncle, but Mike still called him 'kiddo.' He listened as the second message began to play.

"Eric, this is Sookie. Daddy just got off the phone with Mike. I'm so, so, so, so very sorry about your Grandma. If you need anything, or just want to talk, call me, okay. No matter what time, day or night. I'm here for ya, okay? Well, um, I guess I'll talk to you later."

Eric closed his phone and placed it back in his pocket. He could've sworn it sounded like there was something else Sookie wanted to say, but had held back. However, he dismissed the thought as he entered his apartment complex. He opened the door to his apartment, and was relieved to find it empty. He grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, and went into his room and lay down on his bed.

He put his hands behind his head, propping himself up a little on his pillow, and simply stared at the ceiling. He let his mind replay his memories of his Grandmother, as if they were a video. He saw her sitting in the stands, cheering him on as he played basketball in high school. He remembered the look of amused fear she had as she handed him her car keys for the first time after he'd gotten his license. How she had hugged and rocked him as he cried while opening his presents the first Christmas morning after his parents had died.

He was brought back to the present when he heard his cell phone ring. He grabbed it from the nightstand next to his bed, and answered after glancing at the caller ID.

"Hi, Uncle Mike," he said, deciding not to even try to hide the sadness in his voice.

"Hey, kiddo. How you doin?"

"I'm okay, I guess. I was just lying on my bed, remembering."

"Yeah, I've found myself doing that a time or two today, myself. How'd your test go?"

"Eh, it went alright. I was a little distracted, so, I'm sure I got a couple of things wrong that I would've gotten right otherwise, but, I'm sure I passed without a problem."

"Well, listen, I'm supposed to meet with the funeral home tomorrow evening, and we'll probably have the funeral the day after that in the afternoon. I had Sookie look it up for me on her computer, and she said there's a flight leaving there in a couple of hours that would get you to Denver around 11pm. You want me to go ahead and book you a seat, or, do you want to wait 'til tomorrow to fly?"

Eric thought about it for a moment. "No, I'd rather take the flight today. If I stay here any longer, I won't be doing anyone any good. The sooner I get there, you and I can start doing whatever needs to be done. And besides, I think I need to be with family right now."

Once the flight reservation was taken care of, Eric ended the phone call so he could prepare to head to the airport. Originally, his plans had been to fly to Colorado a couple of weeks after the semester ended, and return two weeks before classes resumed in September. His roommates were staying in Texas for the summer in order to keep their current jobs, so, he didn't need to worry about packing up all of his things.

He quickly grabbed his largest duffle bag and began shoving clothes in. He smiled to himself as he thought that, had she witnessed this, his grandmother would've slapped him silly! Not only was he not stacking the clothing neatly, but only half of what he was packing was actually clean! He froze for a moment, wondering if there was a single part of him, of his life, that she hadn't touched or made better. He instinctively knew there wasn't, and that's what made her passing so difficult.

Stan had arrived home while Eric was packing, having already spoken to Isabelle. He offered his condolences, and asked Eric if there was anything he could do to help him get ready for his flight. Eric told him that he had everything covered, but that he would need a ride to the airport. Stan immediately told him it would be no problem, and they were on the road not 30 minutes later.

The line at the security check was, as usual, an extremely long, slow moving nightmare. More than once, Eric wondered whether or not he'd actually make it to his flight in time. As it turned out, he arrived at his gate with 20 minutes to spare. He pulled his laptop from his carry-on bag, booted it up, and quickly imported any unread emails from his account into his word processor program, so that he could read them during the flight. He had just shut the computer down when he heard the announcement that his plane was now boarding.

Although the airport itself was quite crowded, they were many empty seats on his individual flight. Since it was first come first serve on the seats, he happily found a row about midway through the cabin with no one else in it. He sat in the middle seat, and raised the arm rests so it felt like one large seat instead of 3 tiny ones. He tucked his carry-on bag underneath the seat in front of him, fastened his seat belt, and sat through the usual boring schpeal about what to do in case of an emergency.

Once they finally reaching cruising altitude, he pulled out his laptop and began booting it up while grabbing his ipod. He turned on a playlist that he'd put together consisting of what he considered "good background music," and turned the volume down to a low setting while he flipped through the emails he'd imported at the airport.

He had five new messages. Two were random spam messages that he immediately erased. One was a confirmation from one of his professors saying that she'd received the paper he'd submitted a couple of days ago. One was a short note from Joseph, saying he'd heard about what had happened after Stan had already taken Eric to the airport, and he just wanted to extend his condolences. The last one was from Sookie.

_TO: vikingcowboy_

_FROM: crazysookie_

_Eric,_

_Oh sweetie, I just don't know what to say. I know how much your Grandma meant to you. I know how much you love her. I can't imagine how overwhelming your grief must be right now. I've tried to put myself in your shoes and imagine growing up without my parents, but the pain is so unbearable that I simply can't stand it. _

_You've dealt with so much loss in your life. And, we both know that before it's all over, you'll end up having to deal with more. It's not easy, and it's not fair, but it's the truth just the same. I'll keep you and Mike in my prayers, asking for extra strength and guidance for as long as you need it._

_I meant what I said in the message I left on your cell phone. If you need __**anything**__, please let me know. I want to be here for you, Eric. If you need to talk, if you want to scream and yell at someone, or just want someone to laugh with to keep you going, I'm here. No matter how much distance separates us, my heart and thoughts are always with you._

_I'll talk to you soon._

_Love Sookie_

He struggled to hold back the tears that were threatening to fall. He'd known from his very first day on the ranch that Miranda Stackhouse was a dear, kind-hearted, loving woman. Until now, he'd never noticed how much like her Sookie was. He thought back to that first summer and remembered how he shunned her offers of friendship to instead accept the lesser offer of Jason's. There were many times he'd regretted that decision. But, none were felt as strongly as now.

He found himself lost in the memory of a tender moment that he'd shared with Sookie the previous summer. A particularly bad thunder storm with strong winds had knocked several branches from a tree near the house, one of which broke a window. Peter and Jason had gone into town early the next morning and got a replacement, and asked Eric and Sookie to install it that afternoon. The broken glass had already been cleaned up and swept away, but they were unaware of how unsteady the remaining pains were. As they lifted the old window from the frame, a large piece of glass fell out and shattered on the floor. Eric, as a gut reaction, had stooped to try and stop the glass from breaking. What he got for his efforts was several shards of glass embedded in left hand.

Sookie had immediately gone to get the first aid kit from the bathroom. She sat Eric down in a chair at the dining table, held his hand in hers, and slowly and gingerly pulled the shards out using a pair of tweezers. Each time she put the tweezers on a new shard, she flinched, seemingly very upset at causing him pain. Once she'd removed all of the glass from his hand, she washed it thoroughly, rubbed an antibiotic ointment on each individual cut, and wrapped some gauze and a bandage around it. He had tried to tell her that the dressing was quite unnecessary. She refused to relent, however. She just said that, with the kind of work they do on the ranch, he was bound to get all sorts of germs in it, and the last thing she wanted was for any of the cuts to become infected. She'd even pulled his hand to her lips once she was finished, and placed a sweet kiss over it, while saying "There, all better." He now wished she could do the same to the ache in his heart. How wonderful it would be to have her hold him, tell him everything would be fine, and have it miraculously be true.

"Sir, can I get you anything to drink?" The flight attendant asked while placing her hand on Eric's shoulder, effectively shaking him from his memory.

"No, I'm fine, thank you."

As she pushed her drink cart to the next aisle, Eric looked once again at his laptop. He opened a new document, and began to draft an email to Sookie that he would send off once the plane was on the ground in Denver.

_TO: crazysookie_

_FROM: vikingcowboy_

_Sook,_

_Right now, I'm sitting on an airplane, flying over what I THINK is Amarillo, so, I guess I'm about halfway to Denver. I just got finished reading your email. I got the voicemail you left on my cell earlier, and I'm sorry I didn't get the chance to call you back, yet._

_I can't believe she's really gone. About a year after my parents died, I accepted the fact that Gram would one day leave me, too. But, whenever I pictured that happening, it was still a lot longer off than this. It all just feels too soon. Like, I didn't have enough time._

_But, I guess in situations like these you NEVER feel like you've had enough time. Forever wouldn't even be enough time to be near to the ones you love. Right now, I'm just really grateful that I've still got Uncle Mike. He's all I have left, and I'm all he has, too. Well, besides your family that is. You guys always have treated us both like we were bound by blood._

_Ha, speaking of blood, just a few minutes ago I was remember the time last summer when that window shattered and you had to pull glass out of my hand. You put ointment on and wrapped it all up, and then told me it was all better. I wish you could do that now. Just wrap me up in your arms and make everything better._

_Unfortunately, life isn't that simple. And, you're right, I'm bound to deal with more loss as life goes on. So, I've decided that, starting now, I'm going to make sure to appreciate what time we have with our family and friends. I'm going to make sure that those I love really and truly KNOW__that I love them. _

_Thank you for just being there for me. I don't know that I'm really ready to talk about everything, but, when I am, I promise I'll call you. Thanks for everything you do for me, Sookie. I love you for it._

_Eric_

"Hellooo, Earth to Sookie!" Tara's voice was beginning to sound more than just a tiny bit annoyed.

"What? Sorry, Tara, what were you saying?"

Tara shook her head slightly and laughed in exasperation. "Sookie, ya know what, you miss him, I get it. He's been at your house all summer for the past seven years. Now, unfortunately, because his Grandma died, he's only gonna be there for two weeks, and it just so happens to be during the middle of the three week trip you're taking with my family. I'm sorry that it turned out this way, but, it is **seriously** time to put a stop on your little pity party."

Sookie looked down at her hands and closed her eyes, trying desperately to compose herself. Tara was right. She had been hardly paying any attention during their various stops at museums, and historical landmarks. She felt ashamed at how ungrateful she appeared.

"Tara, I'm sorry. I know your parents have shelled out a lot of money on me during this trip, and I really don't want you to think I don't appreciate it. It's just, well, a lot harder than I thought it would be."

Tara sighed and moved to sit next to Sookie on one of the beds in their current hotel room. "Sook, I know it's hard. And believe me, no one thinks that having you here with us is a waste of money. But you have **got** to stop brooding all the time. I'm tempted to call Eric myself and tell him that you're acting all depressed, and not enjoying the trip."

Sookie looked at Tara's face for a moment in shock, only to see the playful smile Tara was now wearing.

"You will do not such thing, Tara Thornton! The last thing I need is another phone call with him yelling at me for not enjoying myself."

"Well, I guess you'd better actually start to enjoy yourself then, huh!"

They giggled together for a moment before they heard a knock at the door. It was Tara's mother, coming to tell them it was time to get back on the road. Tara began taking her bags out to the rental car her parents had been using, while Sookie put her laptop back into its carrying case. She'd spent countless hours on the computer going over and over the email Eric had sent her.

She'd been very disappointed when she learned that it would not be possible for her to attend the funeral. She'd only met Eric's grandmother a couple of times, but she desperately wanted to be there for him, with him. They'd spoken on the phone many times during the two weeks after the funeral. He told her all about cleaning out the old house that his grandparents had owned for decades. They talked about her upcoming trip to the East Coast with the Thorntons.

Several times, she'd offered to stay home, so she could be at the ranch when he was. He wouldn't hear of it, however. Saying she'd be crazy to pass up such a great opportunity. She'd taken several pictures of the various historical sites, and was emailing them to him daily, along with a recap of what they'd done that day. She also made sure to buy him a few gifts along the way, as well.

On her way out the door, she paused briefly in front of the full-length mirror. It still took her a minute to adjust to woman looking back at her. Just last year, she'd had a tearful conversation with Tara, wondering when her body would begin to develop like all the other girls at her school had already done. Tara just kept telling her that she would be a late bloomer, but that it would happen eventually.

Tara had been more than right. In a little under a year's time, so much had changed. Her hips were more rounded, her face had thinned just a bit, and she'd gone from being flat as a board, to having quite the substantial bosom. Because of the type of work she did helping her father, she was very fit, and her skin was nicely tanned.

"Stop gawkin' at yourself and come on!" Tara said from the doorway. Sookie laughed, and went to join the rest of her group at their vehicle.

By the time the three week tour of the East Coast was finished, Sookie felt exhausted, and was ready to do nothing but lie in bed and sleep for a whole week. Her family, however, definitely had other plans for her, considering that in just two weeks time, she would begin her senior year of high school.

They did give her two days to rest and recoup, but, after that, it was back to business as usual. The closer and closer it came for school to start again, the more she noticed Bill watching her in a way he'd never done before. When Jason had come home from his first year at college, he still teased Sookie, but, not nearly as much as he had before. Bill apparently decided to follow the same path, and actually began to act like he enjoyed her company. Things were starting to look up.

The night before her first day of school, she went to bed early, determine to pick out the perfect outfit to wear for her first day as a senior. She was just hanging up her chosen ensemble when her cell phone began ringing. She smiled brightly when she picked it up, and noticed that the caller id said it was Eric calling.

"Hello?" Sookie answered, pretending to not know who her caller was.

"Hey there, little one. Are you excited yet?"

"Um, let me think about that…YES!" She giggled into the phone, and heard Eric's deep laugh in response.

"Yeah, well, have fun, but don't forget that you still have to work hard and get good grades. Don't do what Jason and Bill did and decide that just because it's your senior year, it's okay to slack off and just hope for straight B's!"

"Oh, come on Eric, you know me better than that."

"Yes, yes I do. Hey, listen, I gotta go. It's almost midnight, and my first class tomorrow is at 7am, so, I need to be getting some sleep. I'll call you at the end of the week and you can tell me all about your first five days as a big, bad, senior, okay?"

"Sure," she answered, fighting to keep the disappointment she was feeling out of her voice.

"Good luck, Sook."

"Thanks, Eric. You too."

"Goodnight"

"Night. Love ya," she threw in, wondering how he'd respond.

"Love you, too," and he hung up. She waved her hands in front of her face, not even attempting to conceal her excitement. There was no **way** she was going to get to sleep, now.


	5. Chapter 5

**OCTOBER**

_TO: vikingcowboy_

_FROM: crazysookie_

_Eric,_

_I can't even begin to tell you how surprised I've been at how absolutely stressful it is to be a high school senior! I mean, I knew this year wasn't gonna be all cupcakes, but, come on, give me a freaking break! If I have to listen to one more administrator lecture me on 'pondering long and hard on what really matters in life, choosing a career, and picking the best universities to apply to that support that path,' I'm gonna puke!_

_I swear Tara's the only thing keeping me sane these days. Mama and Daddy have been really busy working with the neighbors to try and get the county to come repave the roads. If you thought the potholes were bad before, you wouldn't believe how they are now!_

_Bill has been hanging around more than he used to. I thought I was pretty used to him being here all the time, since he works here, and he and Jason were practically attached at the hip growing up. But, now, he comes over and tries to hang out with me and Tara. I don't mind it so much, but, it irritates Tara, so, of course, I have to hear about it constantly._

_Well, I guess I'll wrap this up. I have a history paper due next week and I need to finish my final draft. Mike said that your classes are going well, and the whole family is glad to hear it. Write back when you can._

_Love ya!_

_--Sook_

Eric stood at the kitchen counter, sipping a coke and going through his email while waiting for Isabelle to come out of the bathroom. He was finding it difficult to refrain from laughing out loud as Stan paced back and forth, tired of waiting for her, and ready to go. They were headed to a barbecue sponsored by Isabelle's sorority, and Isabelle had been telling Eric all about this new girlfriend of hers she wanted him to meet. Eric found it to be particularly hilarious that Stan seemed more nervous about this than Eric himself did!

Finally, Isabelle came strolling down the hallway, kissed Stan on the cheek, and they headed out to the car. Stan was driving, and since it was only polite to allow the lady to be most comfortable, Eric wedged himself into the backseat. A few minutes after they'd pulled away from the curb, Eric began to question Isabelle, again.

"Okay, Belles, so, tell me more about this girl?"

She huffed. "Eric, I've told you this like a hundred times! Her name is Pam Ravenscroft. She's originally from London, but when she was 13 her family moved to Boston. She's an only child, and her parents spoiled her rotten. But, she **knows** she's spoiled, and only acts like it when she's trying to be humorous. Everyone who knows her says that when you first see her, you think you're looking at Alice in Wonderland. She's about 5' 10" tall, thin, has long blonde hair, and is absolutely gorgeous."

"Age?"

"She's 21."

Eric smiled a little. He'd never dated an "older woman" before. Not that it would be considered cradle robbing if they did indeed hook up. He was 20 now, after all.

"And remind me once again why it is that you're so hell bent on the two of us meeting?"

Isabelle turned a little so he could see her face while they talked. "Well, when I first met her, her attitude kind of reminded me of you. She's majoring in journalism, and she takes her classes and everything they entail **very** seriously. But, she also knows how to really let her hair down and have fun, too. I just thought you two might enjoy getting to know each other."

Eric sat back against the seat and let his mind wander as Isabelle gave Stan directions to their destination. He'd been out with a couple of girls in the month since the semester started, but, neither really panned out. With one, he knew they were simply better suited as friends, and had stayed that way. The other, well, that hadn't gone as well. He'd gone as far as telling his roommates that he'd prefer to have his eyes gouged out with an unsharpened pencil than spend another minute in her presence. He was hoping this wouldn't be a repeat of **that** horrible experience.

When they finally arrived at the barbecue, there were already several people there, and Eric spotted a couple of friends. He walked over and started chatting, and Isabelle left and said she'd find Pam and then find him again as well. While he was waiting, he scanned the crowd, taking note on what girls he found attractive, and whether or not it appeared they were available. He laughed to himself for a moment. As if that really mattered. When it came to Eric, **everyone** was available.

He was dressed in a pair of snug-fitting blue jeans, a dark green t-shirt, and black flip-flops. He wasn't at all surprised to find a fair amount of the females, and a few of the males, checking him out, most with lust-filled eyes. But, that just simply didn't interest him. Not that he was completely opposed to a casual fling. In fact, with the class load he was taking, it was probably the most he could offer someone. But, he'd had his fair share of flings, and was getting to the point where he was craving something more long term, more serious.

He heard his name being called, and turned to face the direction it was coming from. Isabelle was approaching him, and walking with her was a woman Eric could only assume was Pam.

Isabelle was right, she **did** look like Alice in Wonderland. She was wearing a white skirt that hit just above her knees, a light blue short-sleeved button-down blouse, and what looked like white keds. He thought it was a bit of an odd choice for a barbecue, but, to each their own. She had straight, pale blonde hair that reached just past her shoulders. Her eyes were blue, and he noticed that they matched her top remarkably well. He also noted that she had a very nice figure, and he made found himself enjoying watching her hips sway as she walked. He smiled as gave the two ladies his full attention once they reached him.

"Eric," Isabelle said, "this is Pam. Pam, this is Stan's roommate, Eric Northman."

Pam extended her hand to Eric, and he took it in both of his, and brought it to his lips and gently kissed her knuckles. "Pam, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Ooh," she said with a smile, "a cowboy with manners. How charming."

He laughed softly and tilted his head in acknowledgement.

"Well, I'll just leave the two of you to get acquainted, then," Isabelle said, and went off in search of Stan. She kept an eye on the two of them for the rest of the evening, but kept her distance. She was pleased that they were both smiling a lot, and seemed to be having a nice time together.

When she told Eric that Pam's attitude reminded her of his own, she had been telling the truth. However, she'd been nervous for the two of them to meet. Eric had always seemed like a very down to earth kind of guy. He didn't have much, but, he was pleased with what he had. Pam, on the other hand, came from a very rich family, and never had to go without something she wanted. She had been a little standoffish when she first heard the party tonight was a barbecue, but had finally agreed to come. Isabelle knew that Pam could be quite the snob when she wanted to be, and she knew that Eric would most likely see that as a turn off.

Around 1am, the atmosphere at the party began to change, considering the amount of alcohol had been consumed. Isabelle was a little worried about Stan, because he'd already had 5 beers, and he had to work in the morning. So, she found Eric and Pam, still deep in conversation, and asked Eric if he could drive Stan home. He reluctantly agreed, and Isabelle was thrilled to see her two friends exchange numbers before they parted for the evening. She was certain she'd made a good choice in introducing them.

**JANUARY**

_TO: crazysookie_

_FROM: vikingcowboy_

_Sook,_

_So, are you sick of the snow yet?!? When I talked to Uncle Mike yesterday he said that over the past 3 days you guys had gotten 4 feet, and were expecting more. I gotta say, as much as I'm a fan of winter, I'm glad Stan and I went to Isabelle's for Christmas. Having it be 80°F on Christmas day is quite the new experience. But, that's Phoenix for ya, I guess._

_I'm glad to hear that the hoodie I sent you fits. You know how terrible I am at shopping, and I'm even worse at guessing sizes! I must admit, if I hadn't gotten hold of your Mom while I was at the store, I might've ended up just getting both you and Jason gift cards! Speaking of gifts, thanks for the hat and book you sent. I don't get much time to read for pleasure, and I haven't gotten anything new to read in a while, so, I'm looking forward to sitting down and reading over Spring Break._

_I can't believe you're 18 now! It feels like just yesterday that you were playing with Barbie dolls with Tara while Jason and Bill plotted on how to piss you off. Just think, in a few more months, you'll be a high school graduate. You've really grown up, but you'll always be my little one._

_--Eric_

Tara looked up from Sookie's laptop laughing. "Okay, Sook, seriously, what the hell has that boy been smoking? We **never** played with Barbies!"

"Oh, I know. For the life of me, I can't figure out what he's referring to. But, he's right though, the years have gone by fast. Well, except this last one, anyway."

"Sookie Stackhouse! Just because you didn't get to spend last summer with Eric doesn't mean it totally sucked, and that you should continue to mope around because of it!"

Sookie took in a deep breath, and had an expression of shock on her face. "I…..DO….NOT….MOPE!"

"Ha! Bull shit!" Tara said while laughing and patting her friend on the knee. "It doesn't matter now anyway. Eric's right, in a few months we'll be done with school, and then the future is wide open in front of us. There isn't anything we want that we can't have once we set our minds to it."

Sookie looked at her pensively. She wanted to believe her, really she did. But, some part of her still hesitated. "I don't know that that's entirely accurate, Tara."

Tara rolled her eyes and sighed in agitation. "Sookie, this needs to stop. If you have the attitude that 'you and Eric' will never happen, then that's the way it'll be. Sook, you're my best friend, and I love you. I want you to be happy. We both know how die hard ambitious you are. There's never been **anything** that you didn't achieve once you really put your whole self into getting it."

"I know, Tara. I just…I'm afraid of getting my hopes up and then being disappointed."

"Let me tell you girls a little secret," came a voice from the open doorway. Both Tara and Sookie jumped as they registered that Miranda Stackhouse had not only heard their conversation, but was joining it.

Miranda stepped into the room, and pushed the door closed behind her, and sat down on the edge of Sookie's bed. "Now, you must understand that this isn't **my** secret, so it never leaves this room, alright?" She waited a moment until each girl nodded. "You both know that Mike has never married. But, I'm sure that you don't know the actual **reason** behind it. Peter and I married when we were both very young, and Peter was still working for his father. His family had owned this land for many decades, and since Peter was an only child, we knew that some day this land would be passed to us, and eventually to our own children. Peter took a great deal of pride in improving the methods with which the ranch was run, and ending up hiring a few new people, one of them being Mike, who was new to the area. Peter and Mike became friends very easily, and Mike ended up socializing with us quite often. After he'd been working with us for a couple of years, he began to show interest in a friend of mine, Elizabeth. Now, I can tell you that from conversations she and I had together, I knew that she was interested in him as well. Peter and I encouraged him many, many times to pursue her. But, he held back. I'm not sure why, but, he had convinced himself that he would never be **enough** for her. She actually waited for quite some time for him to make his move. But, after **three years** of waiting, she gave up, and ended up marrying another, and moved to Connecticut. He has always said that he was glad that she found love, but, I know that there's always been that lingering 'what if' feeling. What if he had taken her out? Would they have been happy together? We'll never know. If he had gone for it, even if it didn't work out, at least he would **know** that. It's better to try something and not have it work, and move on, than to be afraid to try, and never know what might have been."

She stood, kissed both girls lightly on the top of their head, and left the room. Sookie and Tara just sat in silence, not sure what to say. Miranda had been right; they'd never heard that story before. Tara shifted her gaze to Sookie's face, and smiled as she saw the look of pure determination that took over Sookie's features. She'd seen that look many times. She knew that nothing would stop Sookie from at least** trying** to win Eric's heart. All that Tara could hope was that her friend wouldn't loose.

**MARCH**

_TO: vikingcowboy_

_FROM: crazysookie_

_Eric,_

_It's been a few weeks since I've heard from you. Is everything going okay? I hope that the reason you're not writing isn't because you're struggling in your classes. _

_Hey, do you remember Crystal Norris, the girl that Jason used to go out with sometimes in high school? Well, she'd moved away from the area after they graduated, but, she's back now, although I'm not sure for how long. She came back to help out her uncle, Calvin, who just got out of the hospital. He got shot!! A few people in the area have been having problems with horse thieves, and I guess that Calvin caught a couple guys breaking into his stable one night, and they shot him when he confronted him. He was hurt pretty bad, but, he's getting better every day. Mama, Tara and I made him supper one evening and took it over to him. I hope that he gets better soon, not only because he's a really nice guy, but, because I hope Crystal's gone before Jason comes home for the summer! Their relationship was never a very good thing, and I think they're both better off without each other._

_Speaking of relationships, the weirdest thing has been happening. I know I told you before that Bill was trying to hang out with Tara and I more, but, ever since my birthday, he's always asking me out! I haven't ever said yes to a date with him, but, I have spent some time with him and a few of his friends a couple of nights. He's being really nice all of the sudden. I'm not sure how to take it. I don't think I ever prepared myself for a nice Bill Compton!_

_Well, I'd better wrap this up so I can go help Mama with supper. I bet you're pretty excited for Spring Break, right? Write back when you can. We miss you!_

_Love ya-_

_Sook_

"Eric, come on, hurry up, I don't want to be late," Pam said, for maybe the tenth time. She was leaning against the counter in the kitchen of Eric's apartment, impatiently drumming her fingers while nursing a beer. Eric was in his bedroom, emailing a paper to one of his professors. Stan and Isabelle sat on the couch, silently watching their friends with amusement on their faces.

"Pam, the movie doesn't start for another 45 minutes, and it only takes 20 to get to the theatre, we'll be fine." In order to try and placate her, he walked to where she was standing, put his arms around her and pulled her tightly to him, and kissed her deeply. "I just want to get this done, so that when we leave here, I don't have anything but **you** on my mind, okay baby?"

She smiled, and nodded, as he knew she would. "I just want to read a new email from Sookie, and then we'll go."

Pam waited until he'd gone back to his room before she sat down on a chair in the living room and rolled her eyes. "Who the hell is this Sookie girl anyway? I swear, every time I turn around, she's emailing him, or calling him. Doesn't she have a life of her own? Can't she leave my boyfriend and I in peace?"

Stan and Isabelle immediately tensed up, and Isabelle gave Pam her full attention. "Pam, I really suggest that you don't go there. Eric can pretty much take shit from anybody about anything, **except** Sookie. She's like a sister to him."

"He may look at her like a sister, but, I've read some of the messages she's sent him, she certainly thinks of **him** in a different way."

"Pamela, drop it," Stan warned. "Since his grandmother passed away last year, the only family Eric has left is his uncle. But, he considers the Stackhouse's to be his family, too. Now, I don't know exactly how Sookie feels about Eric, but, I can tell you that if you ever really want to piss him off, insulting her would be the best way to do it. Trust me, leave the subject alone."

Pam didn't have a chance to say anything else, because Eric chose that moment to go back out to the living room. "Alright, darling, let's get this show on the road." He took Pam's hand in his own, helped her up from her chair, and they left the apartment together.

Several hours later, they lay in bed after skipping the second half of movie in favor of a more pleasure way to spend their time. Eric had just fallen asleep, and Pam cuddled herself in closer to him. 'Ha,' she thought to herself, 'Sookie who?!?'

**APRIL**

_TO: crazysookie_

_FROM: vikingcowboy_

_Sook,_

_All I can say is that midterms suck. I have two more tests to take, and then I'm free for 9 whole days. Spring Break could not come at a better time!_

_Hope everything's going good for you guys. Tell your mom and dad and Tara I say hi._

_-Eric_

"You've reached Eric Northman, I can't answer my phone right now, but, if you leave a message, I'll get back to you."

Sookie hit end on her cell phone, not happy with how familiar she was becoming with Eric's voicemail. It was the second day of his Spring Break, so she knew he wasn't in class, and he wasn't working this semester, so, she **should** have been able to reach him. She'd called maybe twenty times over the past 18 hours, but not only did he not answer, but he wasn't returning her messages either.

All Tara could do was sit back and watch. She didn't know how to handle this situation. She had been so sure that Eric would come around. He'd been emailing a lot less often lately, but, he'd explained to Sookie over a month ago that it was only because he was studying for midterms. His exams were over; he should've been able to talk to her by now.

"Why won't he answer? What the hell could be going on that he can't even take a minute to text, or email me, to say that he's busy and he'll call me later?" Sookie asked her friend.

"I don't know, Sook. Maybe he turned off his phone and is catching up on his sleep. You know he's probably been pulling a whole bunch of all-night study sessions."

Sookie smiled. "You're probably right. We both know that boy could sleep for 48 hours straight if he didn't have any distractions!" She and Tara shared a laugh, and got back to their homework.

A short while later, while they were helping Miranda clean the supper dishes, Mike stuck his head in to say goodnight to them, as he was on his way home for the evening.

"Hey, Mike, do you know what Eric's up to? I've tried to call him a few times, and, I just keep getting his voicemail. I just wanted to ask him how he thinks he did on his midterms," Sookie asked, trying to downplay her intense interest in his answer.

"Oh, he actually ended up going to Cabo San Lucas for the week with his girlfriend, Pam, and he didn't think he'd get good reception down there." He left so quickly, he didn't see her reaction.

She froze. Miranda and Tara looked at her, and then at each other, trying to anticipate what she would need. After a moment, she whispered, "excuse me," and left the kitchen. She went to the front porch, and sat on the porch swing where she normally watched the sunrise. She sat there for 15 minutes before Tara joined her.

For the first time in her life, Tara remained silent, at a complete loss for words. This was uncharted territory for her, and she didn't know what type of comfort Sookie was in need of. She rolled her eyes and practically sneered when she saw Bill Compton pull his truck into the drive and walk towards them.

"Evening, ladies." Bill said, grinning crookedly at them. Tara left her fingers twitch with the desire to smack the smug look right off his face.

"Sookie, I was wondering if maybe I could take you to dinner and a movie Friday night."

'He just doesn't give up,' Tara thought. Bill had been asking Sookie out almost every other day since her 18th birthday. Just when Tara was about to open her mouth and very colorfully tell Bill to go to hell, Sookie spoke.

"Sure, Bill. I'd like that."


	6. Chapter 6

**APRIL – CABO SAN LUCAS**

Eric was happy. More than happy. He was downright loving his life. He was reclined on the bed in their hotel room, his arms behind his head propping him up, as he looked down and watched Pam's lips at work. She was definitely good at what she was doing, but Eric found that watching her was what really turned him on. She had this way of gazing up into his eyes just when he was about to come. He loved every minute of the time they spent in bed together.

Once he'd had his release, Eric lay in bed while Pam went to take a shower. She'd gotten very sweaty at the party they'd just attended, and had more than one drink spilled on her. Eric couldn't help but smile as he remembered their activities of that evening.

They'd gone to a party on the beach with about 200 other students. Various types of alcohol were being passed around in little red plastic cups, and music was being blared through a sound system. They'd jumped up and down to Nickelback's "Burn it To The Ground," and had been in the middle of what had turned into a makeshift mosh pit. Pam had been just drunk enough that Eric wasn't sure if she thought the drinks had been **accidentally** spilled on her, or if she'd been aware that many men poured them out over her to see her lovely skin when it was wet. She'd been wearing very short cut-off denim shorts, and her bikini top, and nothing else.

He'd definitely had a great time so far, but was relieved that they'd be heading back to Texas the next day. As much as he liked Pam, being with her 24 hours a day was a bit much for him. Once they got back to school, he'd need to come up with a good reason to avoid her for a few days so he could begin to refocus on his classes.

**APRIL – COLORADO**

Bill's entire face had a smug smile across it as he and Sookie strode arm in arm from the movie theatre. He wasn't sure why, but after weeks of asking her for a date, she'd finally accepted. But, he didn't plan on wasting time, now. He'd taken her to a late supper at the best seafood restaurant in the area. He knew that she loved salmon, but, rarely got the chance to eat it because it would make Miranda break out in hives. Afterwards, they'd gone to the midnight movie at a small theatre just outside of town. On Friday and Saturday nights, they showed what they claimed were "classic" movies. Tonight, they'd seen Young Guns. He didn't care for it very much, but knew that Sookie loved it, and he wanted to make their first date a good one. He wanted her to enjoy their time together, hoping it would be enough to secure a second date as well.

"So, Sookie," Bill began once they'd reached his car, "I'm glad that you finally agreed to go out with me, but, I'm curious as to why now?"

She looked down at her hands folded in her lap for a moment before she answered. "Honestly, I've just been kinda busy with school lately, and my teachers for my AP classes are putting more and more stress on us with our tests coming up. It had all just been building up, I guess I just wanted to get out and do something fun to get my mind off of things."

"Well, you know, anytime you ever want to just get away, you're always welcome to give me a call. I'd be more than happy to distract you from the stress in your life," Bill smiled a bit and wagged his eyebrows at her.

Sookie laughed a little and nodded, trying to be receptive to his flirting. She figured that his heart was in the right place. It wasn't his fault that she was miserable inside.

They made small talk for the rest of the drive home, and when he walked her to her front door, she began to grow nervous, wondering if he'd try to kiss her. She had no desire to kiss Bill whatsoever. But, she didn't want to seem overly rude in denying him. Luckily, he simply took her hands in his, kissed her knuckles, and told her he'd see her for work the next day.

She locked the front door behind her, and made her way up to her room to begin her nightly ritual. She changed into her pajamas, pulled her hair into a pony-tail, brushed her teeth and washed her face. Once she was finished, she crawled into bed, and prayed earnestly for sleep to take her. But, it seemed she wasn't going to be that lucky tonight.

The things she'd been trying to forget about just kept pushing themselves to the front of her mind. She felt bad that she'd outright lied to Bill. Sure, with her AP tests coming up, she was a little stressed with school. But that had absolutely nothing to do with why she agreed to go out with Bill.

But, it had **everything** to do with Eric. She wasn't so naïve that she didn't think he was being completely celibate. She even knew he was dating Pam. But, she **had** been unaware that it was serious enough that they were exclusive. She also felt somewhat betrayed that he hadn't told her he was going to Mexico. She felt as if her heart had been broken in two different ways. She felt her chances for a relationship with Eric were beginning to fade away. But, she also felt like she was loosing one of her closest friends. If he hadn't bothered to mention his trip to Mexico, what other important events was he not talking to her about?

She'd gone out with Bill simply because he'd been paying her so much attention lately. She felt like Eric was suddenly unaware of her, but Bill was always talking to her, or looking at her, and she just wanted to be with someone who would make her feel special. Instead, her date with Bill had simply made her feel miserable. Dinner had been a pleasant enough affair, and normally, she would've thoroughly enjoyed the movie. Then again, with such wonderful eye candy as Emilio Estevez, Keefer Sutherland, and Charlie Sheen in one movie together and all of them riding horses, what teenage girl **wouldn't** have a good time. But, that was before she realized how much Billy the Kid in the movie reminded her of Eric.

So, instead of being giddy from having just returned home from her very first date, she tossed and turned for hours, miserable, until exhaustion finally allowed her body to rest.

**MAY – TEXAS**

Eric, Pam, Stan and Isabelle were all in the living room of the guy's apartment watching a movie together. Stan and Isabelle were cuddled up together in a recliner, while Eric and Pam were spooning on the couch.

They had been back from Spring Break for three weeks, and Pam had been bugging Eric the last couple of days about not getting to spend very much time with him. He'd just turned in an important paper for one of his classes, and it had been taking up the majority of his time since they got back from Mexico. Pam had been very understanding while he was working on it, but, now that he was done, she'd been more vocal about not getting to see him. So, he caved, and they were currently watching a chick flick that he had almost no interest in.

Half an hour into the movie, Eric felt his cell phone vibrate in his pocket. He pulled it out, immediately looking at the caller id. He opened the phone to answer.

"Hey Uncle Mike, what's up?" He shifted so he could stand without dumping Pam on the floor, and motioned that he would be in his room for a few minutes while he took the call.

Pam watched him go a little sadly. She had wanted to spend time with him, and that was hard to do when they were in different rooms. But, she knew that Mike was Eric's only living family, so she shrugged it off. Eric wasn't the type that liked to carry on long phone conversations, so she figured he'd be back soon.

However, she was thoroughly annoyed two hours later when the movie was over and Eric **still** hadn't come back out of his room. Pam stood from the couch, and went to use the bathroom. Once she was finished, she popped her head into Eric's room to see what had been keeping him. What she saw upset her very much. He was lying on his bed, with his laptop next to him, and he was asleep. She moved to look at his laptop, and was not amused to see that he'd been playing solitaire when he fell asleep.

Deciding that now was **not** the time to take the high road, she figured she'd be snoopy, and checked the length of his phone call with Mike. It had lasted only 15 minutes. The rest of that entire time, he was in his room playing a mindless computer game, when he should've been in the living room spending time with his girlfriend. Needless to say, said girlfriend did **not** crawl into bed with him that night, but went home to her own bed instead.

**MAY – COLORADO**

Sookie walked into the house, dropped her backpack on the floor next to the couch, and sank down into the seat with a very loud, very contented sigh. A few moments later, her mother walked in from the kitchen, handed her a glass of milk, and sat down next to her.

"So, how does it feel to have finished your last AP test?"

Sookie took a sip of the milk, before laying her head on her mother's shoulder and responding, "Unbelievably wonderful."

"Are you doing anything fun tonight to celebrate?"

"Oh, well, there's a carnival in town, and Bill said something about going for a while."

"Oh," Miranda said, sounding a little disappointed.

"Um, is that okay?" Sookie asked, suddenly wondering if her parents had something else planned for her.

"No, sweetie, that's just fine. You go and enjoy yourself."

Sookie stood and picked up her bag, and began to climb the stairs to her room.

"Sookie?" She heard her mother call, and stopped halfway up the staircase.

"Yeah, Mom?"

"Just, please remember that you **never** have to do something you're not ready for, alright?"

She was a little confused at her mother's statement, but she nodded, and continued up the staircase to get ready for her date with Bill.

Several hours later, she found herself sitting in the passenger seat of Bill's truck, clutching the huge teddy bear he'd won for her, and her lips still sticky from the caramel apple they'd shared. She smiled, only just then realizing how much fun she'd had tonight. Bill had been so laid back, and it was the most fun she'd had on any of their many dates. She'd even gone as far as to let him hold her hand as they had been walking around.

They pulled up to her house, and as was their custom, Bill walked her to the front door. She set the bear down on the porch swing, giggling at little at how absurd it looked, and then gave Bill a hug.

"Thank you so much for tonight, Bill. I really did have a good time. It was the perfect way to celebrate the end of my AP tests!"

He was holding her so tightly, that she felt his chest rumble as he laughed. "I'm glad you had fun, Sookie."

When she pulled out of the hug, Bill left one of his arms draped around her waist, keeping her body close to his, and leaned his face into hers. She suddenly felt very self-conscious, and looked down at her feet. Bill placed a finger under her chin, raising it until her gaze met his own. He closed his eyes, leaned in the rest of the way, and pressed his lips to hers. She was so surprised that she gasped a little, and when her mouth opened, Bill's tongue slowly licked her bottom lip, before he finally pulled away.

"Goodnight, beautiful Sookie," he said, and then turned and left.

She stood still for a moment and watched him leave. Once she could no longer see his tail lights, she went into the house, and got ready for bed. Once she was comfortable, she lay in her bed, and brought her fingers to trace over her lips. Her first kiss. She wanted to be excited, truly she did. But, as she turned from her back to her side, her eyes caught on the framed picture of her and Eric on her dresser. Her eyes immediately filled with tears, and she cried herself to sleep while holding her pillow tightly to muffle the sounds of her sobs.

**FIRST DAY OF JUNE – TEXAS**

Eric and Stan walked into their apartment together, both of their arms weighed down by grocery bags. They'd been to the store to buy as many caffeinated beverages as they could, knowing they'd have lots of all-night study sessions in the coming few days.

"Man," Stan said as he unloaded a bag, "One more week of class, two weeks of finals, and then we are **done** with our second year! I can't believe how fast the time has gone."

"I know. It feels like only yesterday that we were talking about moving down here for school. I can't believe how much has changed in the past couple of years." Stan knew that Eric was referring to his grandmother's passing, but he tried to brush past the subject, knowing Eric didn't like to talk about it an awful lot.

"Speaking of changes, you and Pam haven't been spending much time together recently."

Eric rolled his eyes are the new subject of conversation. "Yeah. I've actually been thinking about breaking up with her."

"Why's that," Stan asked.

"Well, she's just a little too much of an uptight city girl for me. Don't get me wrong, she's intelligent, has a good sense of humor, albeit a dry one, and knows how to have a good time. That's just not what I'm interested in."

"Wow," Stan said. "It sounds like you've been thinking about this for a while, now."

"More or less, since we got back from Spring Break."

They had finished putting away the groceries and were now heading down the hallway towards the bedrooms.

"Eric, that was two months ago. Why have you let it go on this long?"

"Dude, have you **seen** Pam? She's absolutely gorgeous, and phenomenal in bed." Stan laughed a little awkwardly. Eric continued, "Honestly, if I could put Sookie's personality in Pam's body, I'd have the perfect woman!"

He laughed aloud as he began to open his bedroom drawer. He drove in the doorway, however. There, lying on his bed in a silk nighty, was Pam. And by the look on her face, he knew she'd heard his entire conversation with Stan.

'Oh, shit,' he thought to himself as he entered the room and shut the door behind him.


	7. Chapter 7

**THREE WEEKS LATER – COLORADO**

"JASON!!" Sookie yelled her brother's name loudly as she full out ran to where he was standing. She'd been in the stable brushing her horse when she heard her brother's truck pull up. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her parents come out the front door of the house and make their way down the stairs, but she didn't slow down at all.

Jason's face morphed into a huge grin as Sookie practically slammed into him and wrapped her arms around his neck in a tight hug. He wrapped his arms around her waist, picked her up, and proceeded to spin the two of them in several circles as they laughed together.

Miranda couldn't help but smile as she watched her children. This is how she'd wanted them to be as they were growing up. She'd wanted them to be good friends, who would watch out for one another. However, Jason had grown up teasing Sookie mercilessly. It wasn't until her near-drowning accident that Jason finally understood how precious his younger sister actually was. It took almost loosing her for Jason to truly see her. Their relationship had changed completely after that summer, and in the two short years that had passed since, they had become, and remained, extremely close.

When Peter and Miranda finally reached their children, Jason released his hold on Sookie, and his mother took her place in Jason's arms. After they embraced for a moment, he quickly hugged his father, and then went back to his truck to grab his two duffle bags and take them into the house. Miranda only laughed when Jason made sure to mention that all of his clothes were dirty, so he'd be grateful if she'd wash them for him. Things with Jason never would change.

As they sat down for supper, Peter filled Jason in on any changes that had been made at the ranch, and Jason told them all about his second year at college. He was proud listening to Sookie talk about how well she'd done on her AP tests, and was even more proud when she told him she'd graduated with a 3.9 GPA. He had, unfortunately, missed her graduation ceremony, so she filled him in on all the details.

After they'd finished eating, and Sookie and Miranda had cleaned up and washed all of the dishes, Jason took Sookie by the hand, and guided her out to the front porch. They sat side by side on the porch swing, and Jason pushed them slightly with his feet until they began to rock gently. After a few minutes of comfortable silence, Jason finally got around to asking her about what had been plaguing his mind.

"So, Sook, what's this I hear about you dating Bill?" Sookie turned to look at her brother, and her expression was one of shock.

"Who told you about that, Jason?"

"That doesn't matter. Just tell me, is it true? Are you and Compton really a couple?"

She took a deep breath, laid her head on his shoulder, and nodded. "Yeah, we are. We've been dating for about two months, now."

"And, why is it that I had to hear about this from someone else? You'd think my own sister would tell me that she was dating my best friend."

"Jason, I'm sorry you didn't hear about it from me. To be honest, I think that the reason I never told you was because, until real recently, I didn't really think of us as a 'couple.' He took me out on a few dates, but, it was all real relaxed and laid back. It almost didn't even feel like we were really dating until he kissed me." As soon as she said it, she wished she could take the words back. She hadn't intended on telling her brother that Bill had been her first kiss.

"He kissed you?" Sookie couldn't tell if the dominating emotion in his tone was surprise, or anger.

"Yeah, last weekend. He took me to the carnival, and when he dropped me off afterwards, he kissed me. It's no big deal, Jas, really."

"No big deal? Do you seriously think I'll believe that you getting your first kiss is no big deal?" She wasn't sure how to answer him. So, she simply chose to ignore it, and remained silent.

After another 15 minutes of silence, Jason said he was tired from the long drive, and excused himself to go to bed. Sookie sat by herself in front of the fire for a while longer, simply staring absently into the flames. She thought back over the past year, wondering when everything had changed. Her life used to be so simple. Now, everything was confusing. She smiled ruefully as she figured it was all just part of growing up. She went back into the house and up to her room to get ready for bed, never having seen her mother watching her through the window.

**THE NEXT DAY – DENVER**

Mike stood near the baggage carousel, watching closely for his first glimpse of Eric. It had been almost a year since he'd seen his nephew, and he had missed him. He'd been understanding when Eric said he was going to Phoenix this past Christmas rather than Colorado, because this was the first Christmas that Mike's mother was no longer with them. But, they were all the family either of them had left now, and he was eager to have Eric back at his side.

He chuckled lightly to himself when he saw a head of blonde hair sticking out several inches over the heads of all the other travelers moving through the airport, knowing it had to be Eric. Once Eric finally reached him, they hugged each other, both smiling like fools. They collected Eric's luggage, threw it into the bed of Mike's truck, and they were on their way.

They talked about simple, unimportant things as they made their way towards Boulder. There wasn't much traffic, so it only took about 30 minutes. They were only making a short stop, just long enough for Eric to place flowers on the graves of his Grandmother, and his parents. Mike stayed in the truck, allowing Eric to have a private moment.

Eric was not at all surprised, however, when Mike brought up a serious subject just outside of the city limits. "So, you gonna tell me what happened with Pam, or what?"

Eric cringed a little, his mind immediately returning to the last time he'd seen her.

_Eric watched Pam stand up off his bed, and began to slip her clothes back on over the lingerie she'd been wearing. _

"_Pam, listen, I…"_

"_Oh, no buddy, don't you dare talk. You decided to keep silent about your feelings about our relationship for this long, so you've lost the right to have a chance to speak. It's __**my**__ turn to talk, now." She paused for a moment to take a deep breath, and collect her thoughts. "You know, I realized that this," she gestured between the two of them, "wasn't going to last forever. Let's face it, all relationships end until you find __**the one**__ that doesn't. I don't think either of us ever had delusions that we had found that one in each other. I was even aware that I cared for you much more than you cared for me. But, I was okay with that. Because, we had fun together, and I __**thought**__ we respected one another."_

_Eric tried to interrupt, to tell Pam that he did respect her, but she shot him an icy glare, and he slammed his mouth shut._

"_Obviously, you've known for quite some time that you were ready for our association to be over. Yet, you've continued to let me misinterpret your affections, just so you could get laid. I don't know who I'm madder at; you, for treating me the way you did, or me, for not figuring it out and dumping your ass weeks ago! But, I'll tell you one thing, you think your precious Sookie is so great? Well, if that's true, then you'll never deserve her. And if she's smart, she'll see right through your Prince Charming act, and realize that all you are is a pretty face, with no soul to back it up."_

"She left after that, and I haven't seen her since," Eric told Mike.

Mike just shook his head, never turning to look at Eric's face. "Eric, I realize that no one is perfect, and that we all make mistakes in life. None of us can look back at our past relationships and say that we treated the other person just as they deserved to be treated. But, still, I cannot **believe** that you were able to be so callous!"

Eric hung his head, knowing that everything his uncle was saying was true. "You used that poor girl for weeks. And, as if **that** wasn't enough, you've also begun to push Sookie away."

Eric's head snapped up at this comment, he hadn't seen it coming. "What are you talking about? My friendship with Sookie is going just fine!"

Mike shook his head in exasperation. "Eric, over the past year, you've gone from emailing or calling her once a week, to barely once a month! With both you and Jason being gone, she's been forced to turn to Bill for companionship."

"Bill? As in Bill Compton?" Eric asked, disgust heavily coloring his tone.

"Yup. They've gone out on a few dates. You and Jason used to pay her so much attention, and then you were both suddenly gone, and here comes Bill, telling her how pretty she is, and trying to sweep her off her feet. Eric, you **know** how naïve she is. She wouldn't understand Bill's true intentions for her if he had it posted on a billboard."

"Hey, don't say that about Sookie. She's not at all stupid. She's incredibly smart."

Mike kept to himself how glad he was to hear Eric defending her. "I know she's smart. But, she tries **so** hard to see the good in people, that she doesn't always see the bad, even when it's staring her straight in the face."

Eric turned his head to peer out the window, and just nodded in agreement. Mike was right, of course. Sookie was always so preoccupied with finding everything good in a situation, that she rarely saw the bad until it was too late. But, that innocence was one of the things about her he enjoyed the most.

Without really thinking about it, Eric took his wallet out of his back pocket, opened it up, and extracted a folded picture. It was a photo of him, Jason, and Sookie the day that Jason and Eric both left for the college the first time. That was the last time he'd seen her. Miranda had mailed the picture to him, and he had kept it close ever since.

Mike leaned over a little to take a glance at what Eric was looking at. He laughed out loud when he saw it. "It's easy to forget that it was only two years ago that Sookie still looked that young."

A confused look settled on Eric's face, and Mike tried to explain. "Eric, she hardly looks **anything** like that anymore. She's really changed. She has grown into a very beautiful woman."

Eric thought about that for a minute, before grinning and laughing a little. "Yeah, well, that makes sense I guess. Bill never would look at a woman twice unless she was good looking enough to be way out of his league." Mike joined him in laughter.

They slipped into a comfortable silence as they continued the long drive to the ranch, which was just fine with Eric. He had a lot to think about. Looking back at the past year of his life, he was very disappointed with himself. He wasn't sure if his grandmother's passing was the catalyst, or if it was something else. But, regardless of what caused it, Eric realized that he did not like who he had become.

He also knew that he had to begin to change himself for the better, starting right then, in that very moment. Unfortunately, there wasn't much he could do to make amends with Pam until he got back to Texas at the end of the summer. And, that all depended on if she'd allow for them to be friends.

For now, he would just have to focus on making up for his lack of attention to Sookie. She'd always been ready, willing, and able to help him with any problems he had. He'd obviously let her down, and had not been there for her. He smiled as Mike turned into the drive for the Stackhouse Ranch, knowing that there was no better time than the present to begin to better himself.

Once they were parked in front of the familiar house, Eric climbed out, and was turning to grab his bag from the bed, when he heard Sookie's familiar voice scream his name. He closed his eyes for a brief moment, before turning to face the house. All he saw was a blonde blur as Sookie launched herself at him. She wrapped her arms around his neck in a tight hug, and he in turn bent to put his around her waist, and then stood so he was holding her up in the air.

He hadn't had the chance to get a good look at her yet, but, he could already tell that there had been many changes since he'd seen her last. She was perhaps two inches taller, and her hips were more rounded. He could distinctly feel a pair of firm breasts pressing against his chest. He took in a deep breath, smelling her shampoo, and for the first time in a long while, he felt like he was truly home.

When another moment passed without Eric setting Sookie down, he heard a few snickers coming from the porch, and looked up to see Peter, Jason, and Mike trying to hide smiles. He reluctantly leaned forward again and put Sookie on the ground. He took a small step back and got his first good look at her.

She took his breath away. He'd always thought she was pretty, but now, he was stunned at how absolutely gorgeous she'd become. She'd allowed her hair to grow, and it cascaded halfway down her back in soft curls. Her eyes were crystalline blue, large, and bright. She wasn't wearing any make-up, but, she truly didn't need any. He saw that her hips had indeed rounded out, and he had to fight the urge to step behind her to see if her ass was as curvaceous as her hips. Her breasts were large, high, and firm. She was wearing a pair of light-colored denim cut-offs, and a black short-sleeved t-shirt. She was very toned, and very tan. He was suddenly glad he'd worn a pair of loose jeans for comfort during the flight. He'd hate for the entire household to be aware of how hard the sight of her had made him. She was like his own personal wet dream.

He was brought out of his own little fantasy world when Miranda came off the porch to hug him as well. He was glad to see her. She'd taken on the role of a second mother to him, and he loved her for it. He shook hands with Peter and Jesse, and did a sort of half-hand shake, half-hug thing with Jason. Bill however, did not seem at all pleased to see him. He walked to where Sookie was standing, pulled her close into his body, wrapped his arms around her abdomen, and just nodded his head and softly said, "Hey," to Eric.

Mike had said that they had been spending time together, but Eric was still surprised at Bill's actions. Everyone knew that Sookie was not a big fan of public displays of affection. Eric had noted how she stiffened slightly when Bill pulled her into him. He suddenly felt regret at not having come here for Christmas. The moment he walked into the house, however, he caught the aroma of Miranda's cooking, and thoughts of everything else flew right out of his head.

After they'd all stuffed themselves on Miranda's fried chicken, Mike and Jesse left, and Miranda and Peter retired to their room to read before turning in for the night. Just off the back porch was a fire pit, surrounded by picnic tables. Jason, Eric, Sookie, and Bill lit a fire, and sat down to catch up with one another more in depth. Even in the summer, it was chilly once the sun went down, so no one was surprised when Sookie pulled a blanket around her shoulders. Bill was sitting on a tabletop, and Sookie was sitting on the bench in front of him, resting her arms on his legs. Eric was surprised by the flare of jealousy he suddenly felt, and tried his best to push it aside.

"So, Jason," Eric said, "Tell us about this girl you're dating."

Jason sat up straighter and his face seemed to light up as he smiled. "Her name's Amelia. I met her in my English class. She's from New Orleans, and she's really into all that holistic healing shit. She's already a licensed massage therapist, but, she wants to get her business degree as well."

"What's she look like," Sookie asked?

"Well, she's about your height, Sook. She's got shoulder length, straight brown hair. Pretty brown eyes. She tends to dress pretty conservatively. When I first saw her, she reminded me of a soccer mom," he said, laughing a little.

Sookie giggled a little. "That doesn't really sound like the kind of girls you usually go for." Jason smiled and shook his head. "When do I get to meet her?"

"Well, I'm not so sure about that. She's living in Denver for the summer, and, I planned on going out there to visit her for a few days next month. She mentioned coming here for a bit, but, we never made concrete plans."

Sookie just sat in silence smiling at him. She was excited that Jason had found someone that made him so happy. She was eager to meet the girl for herself. She was about to ask Jason another question when Bill spoke.

"What about you, Eric? How are things with you and Pam?"

Sookie was surprised to see Eric drop his gaze to the ground for a moment before he spoke. She knew that look well. It was how he reacted when he was ashamed of something.

"Actually, we broke up. About a month ago." The moment the words had left his mouth, his eyes went directly to Sookie's. Her own eyes widened at this new revelation, and it took every ounce of strength she had to not break out into a huge smile. So, not only was Eric available again, but, apparently he wanted to make sure she was well aware of that fact. 'Well, well, well, this was interesting indeed,' she thought.

Jason asked Eric about his Spring Break trip to Mexico, but Sookie tuned out the conversation to allow herself to think. Eric no longer had a girlfriend. And, unless she misread the signs, she was fairly certain that he seemed at least moderately attracted to her earlier. The only problem was that she was now dating Bill. She knew that she would never be capable of caring for Bill with the depth that she cared for Eric, but, she also didn't want to hurt him if she didn't have to. She'd keep an eye on Eric's actions for a couple of weeks, before making any decisions.

Just as she was thinking this, she felt Bill's hands move. They'd been resting on her shoulders, rubbing lightly underneath the blanket. Now, they slowly crept down her front, and it didn't take a genius to realize that he was about to try to cup her breast. She was mortified. Not only was Bill trying to do something she wasn't comfortable with, but, he was doing it right in front of both Jason and Eric. She moved her own hands to his, gently pulled them from her body, and sat up so that she was no longer within his reach. She tried to readjust her position so it seemed that she was just trying to get more comfortable, rather than trying to keep her boyfriend from feeling her up in front of her brother.

Shortly afterward, they decided to call it a night. Jason poured a bucket of water in the fire pit to kill the flames, and he and Eric went into the house as Sookie walked Bill to his truck to say goodnight. When they got there, Bill opened the driver-side door, but turned back to speak to her before he climbed in. "Sookie, please don't forget that I'm going to my cousin's wedding tomorrow. I'll be here in the morning, but, my father and I will be leaving around lunchtime and won't be back before the day is over."

Sookie nodded, remembering when he told her of his obligations to his family. She didn't mind one bit. She could use that time to better catch up with both Jason and Eric without having to worry about how Bill was interpreting her words. When Bill leaned in to give her their usual goodnight kiss, she put her hands on his chest and pushed her back a little. "Oh no you don't, mister. Just what were you thinking, trying to put your hands on my chest under the blanket earlier?"

Bill smirked, and cocked an eyebrow at her. "Oh, Sookie. I know you don't like to do anything in public, but, I just couldn't help it. You're so beautiful, I just couldn't resist the urge to put my hands on your breasts."

Her jaw dropped in astonishment at his brazenness, and she silently turned from him and walked into the house, locking the door behind her. She waited at the foot of the stairs until she heard his truck pull out. As she made her way up the staircase, she saw that the door to the bathroom was open, and the light was on. She peeked in, and sure enough, Eric was standing at the vanity brushing his teeth. She so desperately wanted to talk to him. She quickly went into her room and shut her door to change, hoping to catch him in the hallway as he left the bathroom. Unfortunately, by the time she once again opened her door, he'd gone back into his own room, and the door was shut, and the light was out. She pushed her disappointment to the back of her mind, brushed her own teeth, and went to bed.

The next morning, shortly after breakfast, Bill, Jesse, and Mike all arrived, and then everyone, except Miranda, rode the horses along the fence line of the property so Peter could point out a few things that had changed since Jason and Eric had been around. By the time this was completed and they arrived back at the house, Sookie was needed in the kitchen to help Miranda finish preparing lunch, and Jesse and Bill got ready to leave. Sookie was still upset about what Bill had said the night before, however, she gave him a quick kiss and hug before he left, and made sure to tell him to drive very carefully if he drank at the reception.

Just as Bill was climbing into his truck, Jason called out to him and went to speak with him. "Bill, hold up a minute, man. Listen, I don't know how else to say this, so, I'm just gonna be completely straight forward, okay?" He waited until Bill nodded before continuing. "Look, you've been my best friend for years. You could probably say that we know each other inside and out. But, I'll tell you this much right now. I've seen exactly how you treat women. And, if that's how you treat my baby sister, I'll fucking kill you." He paused for a moment to make sure his words registered, then tapped the hood of the truck, smile and said, "Drive safe now!" Bill could only stare at his retreating form in confusion, and anger.

While they sat eating lunch together, Miranda let them all know that she'd received a phone call from Tara's mother earlier in the day. Apparently, Tara's father had gotten a large promotion at work, so, they were having half the town over for a celebration that night. They'd be having a big potluck supper, and there would be lots of music and dancing. Miranda planned on baking a couple of pies, and making a large batch of baked beans, so, she made a shopping list, and asked Jason, Sookie and Eric to run to the store for her once they were finished with lunch. Just as they were preparing to leave, Tara stopped by to see Sookie, so she decided to go along for the ride.

Sookie always felt most like herself when Tara was around. For some reason, Tara's presence just put her at ease, and she was able to loose her inhibitions and have fun. They were walking closely together down an aisle in the Walmart, with Jason and Eric following behind. Sookie had told Tara about her scolding of Bill the night, and Tara playfully swatted her hand on Sookie's backside and said, "Good game, girl!"

Jason spoke up right away. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, what the hell is that all about?" The girls turned to look at him. Sookie looked slightly confused, so it was Tara who responded.

"Oh come on now, Jason Stackhouse, I refuse to believe that you of all people are going to object to watching one girl grab another girl's ass!" Eric laughed at little at this, but Jason didn't seem happy.

"Well, when one of them is my sister, you bet your **ass** I'm gonna object!" Eric, Sookie and Tara laughed out loud.

"Oh, don't get your panties in a bunch, Jason," Sookie said, "She was just invoking the good game rule."

"The what?" Eric asked. This was all new to him.

Tara and Sookie looked at the boys, then back at each other, then back at the boys. "Don't tell me that you guys don't know the good game rule?" Tara asked them. When both Jason and Eric shook their heads, she said, "Sook, explain."

Sookie's face took on a look of complete seriousness. "Well, since the dawning of time, the biggest question that man has ever asked, is 'What is the best thing professional sports have given the world?'"

Tara spoke next. "Now, some would argue that the answer to that question is that it means that we get to see Peyton Manning running around in those tight little football pants, but, no, there's something **even better**." She turned back to Sookie, to allow her to finish the explanation.

"The **true** answer, is 'The Good Game Rule.' From observing professional athletes, it has been determined that as long as you accompany the action with the words, 'good game,' you can grab, pat, or smack **anyone's** ass that you want."

Eric couldn't hold it in anymore. He laughed loudly at their explanation. After another moment, Jason chuckled as well, and they continued to find the items on Miranda's list.

Tara dropped them off back at the ranch, and Jason and Eric went to help Peter with a few things while Sookie helped Miranda in the kitchen. Time flew by quite quickly, and soon, Jason, Sookie and Eric were pulling into Tara's driveway in Jason's truck, with Mike, Miranda and Peter following them in Mike's.

Sookie and Tara sat with some of their friends from school while eating, and Jason and Eric were with some of Jason's friends. Eric found his gaze drifting to Sookie more often than he would've liked to admit. She'd worn some form hugging jeans, and a sky blue t-shirt, and she'd left her hair down, and put on just a bit of make up. He was still amazed at her beauty. It didn't escape Tara's notice that Eric was having a difficult time keeping his eyes off Sookie.

Once they'd had their fill of wonderful food, Jason and Eric made their way to lean against a fence railing beside what was now being used as a dance floor. They chatted while watching the dancers enjoy themselves. Eric was surprised that Sookie wasn't out there, because she simply loved to dance.

As the beginning of Carrie Underwood's "Songs Like This," began to play, Eric heard Sookie shriek as she came running over to them.

"Jason, please please please please please?!?" She said while holding her brother's hands. Jason laughed and nodded, and the two of them made their way into the center of the dance floor.

Eric kept an eye on them as they began to move to the music.

'_Gonna find some boy, rip his heart right out._

_Next man I see, gonna take him down._

_It's not the Christian thing to do they say,_

_But someone somewhere's gotta pay…'_

Tara joined Eric, and they both laughed as Jason suddenly did a back flip as the song moved into the chorus.

'_Cause if it wasn't for guys like you there wouldn't be songs like this._

_And if you hadn't gone and done me wrong, I wouldn't go off like this._

_Yeah, even I'm surprised how easy sweet revenge rolls off my lips._

_Yeah if it wasn't for guys like you there wouldn't be songs like this.'_

Jason and Sookie twirled and moved so quickly, and so well together, you'd think they had rehearsed their motions over and over again, Eric thought to himself.

"Well, at least the song's appropriate," Tara said, breaking into Eric's thoughts.

He looked at her from the corner of his eye. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, I just hate that it takes Bill being out of town for Sookie to actually be able to enjoy herself. You know how much she loves to dance. And, Bill hates it, so, she never gets the chance."

Eric once again was astonished thinking of Sookie's relationship with Bill. They were so differently, how could she possibly be happy with him?

"Ya know, he's such an ass that he even refused to take her to the prom!" Tara added.

"Wait a minute. Sookie went to the prom. She was royalty. I saw the pictures myself."

"Yup," Tara said, popping the P at the end of the word. "She was prom queen. She had no choice, she had to go. But, Bill refused to take her. So, she went stag."

Eric's entire body tensed up. He turned his attention to focus completely on Tara. "Are you telling me that since Bill doesn't like to dance, he made her go to her Senior Prom, at which she was voted Prom Queen, **by herself?**"

Tara nodded. "That's exactly what I'm saying."

"Son of a bitch! How could he do that to her?" Eric could feel his blood begin to boil.

"He's a selfish prick, that's how," was Tara's only answer.

They remained silent for a moment more while they watched Jason and Sookie continue to dance. "A beautiful woman like that," Eric finally said, "deserves to be treated like a princess."

"Then why don't you step up and do it?" Eric looked slightly shocked at Tara's question. "Oh, come on, Eric. You're not fooling anyone. I've seen the way you've been looking at her all night. You might say that you're not interested in her, but, your tight jeans don't lie." Eric put his head down and laughed. You could always count on Tara to be straight-forward and blunt. "Sweep her off her feet, show her how a real man treats a lady."

He looked into Tara's eyes, and she could see that he was weighing the pros and cons in his head. The song ended, and Tara turned to see Jason walking toward them, as Sookie went to get a glass of water. "Well hey there, twinkle toes," Tara said to Jason once he reached them. Eric continued to stare into space, and Jason looked puzzled for a moment.

"Um, Earth to Eric," he said, waving his hand in front of Eric's face. Eric shook his head slightly, and his eyes held a determined focus. He turned to walk away from Jason and Tara, and said, "Well, if you two will excuse me, I think it's my turn to ask a beautiful woman to dance."

Tara smiled as she watched Eric approach Sookie. "Good game, cowboy," she said softly. Jason turned and watched as Eric led Sookie to the middle of the floor, and wrap his arms around her as a slow song began. "Good game, indeed," he added.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N I had every intention of having this chapter up several days ago, however, my computer completely bit the dust. I've had to resort to using a laptop until I get a new PC. I'm sure lots of you are wondering why I'd ever prefer a desktop to a laptop, and, all I can say is, I hate using a small keyboard! Anyway...enjoy, and review!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story. They belong to the talented Charlaine Harris....lucky lady!**

During all the summers he'd worked at the Stackhouse Ranch, Eric had never quite figured out if it was a good or bad thing that the walls of the home were so thin. At night, when the rest of the house was quiet, he'd always been able to hear whatever Sookie was doing in her room. Sometimes, she played soft music, sometimes she'd be on the phone with friends, and sometimes, when she was **really** exhausted, she'd even snore a little.

But now, it was an entirely different story. When he'd come out of the bathroom, and passed her room on the way to his, he'd noticed that she was sitting on her bed, painting her toenails. So, when her cell phone rang, he wasn't surprised that she put it on speaker phone, so she could continue. He hadn't realized until that very day how much he had missed just the simple sound of her voice, and the easy cadence with which she spoke. However, he wasn't pleased when he heard Bill's voice coming through the phone.

"_Good evening, darling. How was your night?_"

"Oh, it was just great, Bill! Tara's dad got a big promotion at work, so, they had a big party. They had a big potluck supper, and they played music, and there was dancing."

"_Hmm. Did you dance?_"

"Of course I did! In fact, I'm probably going to have a blister, tomorrow!"

"_Who did you dance with?_"

"Oh, I danced with Jason for a couple of songs, and Daddy and Mike each took a turn, as well. "

Eric noticed that Sookie hadn't mentioned to Bill that she'd also danced with him. He was curious as to why.

"So_, just your brother, your father, and Mike then, is that correct?_"

"Yes, it is."

"_Good girl. You know I don't like other men putting their hands all over you_."

'Oh, this is rich,' Eric thought. 'You don't want anyone else touching her, but you have no qualms feeling her up in public when you know she'd hate it, but can't say as much because of her manners?'

"Yes, Bill, I know that. We both know that's exactly why I went to prom by myself."

"_Oh, Sookie, you aren't going to bring that up again, are you? I thought we'd been able to move past it. You gave me the impression that you agreed with me that it was immature, and irresponsible of you to attend._"

"I don't want to talk about it anymore, Bill. How was the wedding?"

"_Long and boring. But, I don't want to talk about that right now. Tell me, what are you wearing?"_

At that point, Eric grabbed his iPod and turned it on. He was fairly certain Sookie wouldn't have phone sex with Bill, but, on the off chance that she would, he **definitely** did not want to hear it.

He took a moment to analyze everything he'd just heard, and what Tara had told him earlier. It seemed that Sookie had shunned Bill's flirting for quite some time, but, had finally accepted his date invitation during April. He thought of how Sookie deserved to be treated. How he would treat her if she were his. And then he thought about the way that Bill was currently treating her. What an asshole.

It did not, however, take him long to realize that Bill was treating Sookie the same way that he, Eric, had treated Pam. That thought made him feel only more shameful for the way he'd behaved, and more hateful for the way Bill was behaving. But, this was somehow worse. He knew that Pam would bounce back from what happened between the two of them. But, he doubted Sookie would. She was just too tenderhearted. He remembered Pam's words to him before she stormed out of his bedroom that final day. "_You think your precious Sookie is so great? Well, if that's true, then you'll never deserve her." _

As far as Eric was concerned, Pam was right, he didn't deserve Sookie. But, neither did Bill. Sookie deserved much better than either of them could ever hope to give her. He would make it his duty to see that Sookie realized it as well, hopefully, before she got hurt.

Eric woke the next morning to the odd sensation of fingernails ghosting along his arm, tickling him. He opened his eyes to see that Sookie had pulled a chair over to his bed, and was sitting very close, watching him intently.

"Good morning, sleepy head," she said with a smile.

He smiled back and sat up, feeling his headphone falls out of his ears. Apparently, he'd forgotten to take them out last night before he fell asleep.

"Have you recently started needing music to go to sleep, or, was I being too loud last night?"

Eric contemplated how to answer. He didn't want to tell her outright that he just didn't want to hear her and Bill being all lovey over the phone, but, he also didn't want to lie to her. "I could hear you talking on the phone, and, it wasn't bothering me, I just figured it wasn't the type of conversation you'd want someone to overhear. I figured this was the easiest way to give you privacy."

Sookie smiled while reaching to Eric's nightstand where she'd left a mug of coffee for him. She handed him the coffee, and put the chair back where she'd gotten it from. "Well, I appreciate the thought, Eric. But, honestly, I wouldn't have cared if you'd heard the whole conversation. I actually wanted to talk to you about Bill, anyway." Eric heard warning bells go off in the back of his head. "I can't talk to Jason about this, because he'd go into 'freaked-out-older-brother' mode. And, although I know Tara's always willing to listen, I was kind of hoping to get a guy's perspective on this. I know I can trust you to be frank with me."

Eric was beginning to feel uneasy about the situation. It seemed obvious that Sookie was going to ask for some sort of relationship advice. Could he be completely open and honest with her, knowing how he truly felt? In order to buy him some time, he told her to hold the thought while he made a quick trip to the bathroom. When he returned to his bedroom with clean teeth and face, a now empty bladder, and a clean pair of jeans on, he felt a bit more prepared. He gestured for her to begin while he searched through his things for a clean shirt.

"Eric, I'm concerned about why Bill is actually interested in me. I mean, all growing up, he used to tease me, and make fun of me, and he never wanted anything to do with me, socially. And then, as soon as I turned 18, he started asking me out. I know that he's aware that Jason has said that he doesn't necessarily want to take over the ranch when Daddy retires. We all talked about it over Christmas. I told Daddy that as long as there were no objections from my future husband, I'd do it." Eric was impressed by this. He knew that Sookie had a great fondness for the land, and respected her family's history in the area, but he had no idea she loved it enough to take it all on, herself. "So, how do I know that Bill is interested in **me** and not in just trying to take over the ranch? It's not like I'm some big prize or anything. I've seen the other girls that Bill has dated in the past. He could be with someone a whole lot prettier and me."

Eric couldn't help but laugh at this. "Sookie, I have to say that when you said you wanted to talk to me about Bill, I never anticipated **this** being the issue. Now, I can't say for certain whether or not I think Bill would like to take over the ranch. I can promise you that I will keep my eyes and ears open to see if I can pick up on any clues. I can tell you this much, though, you don't give yourself nearly enough credit. Sookie, you are absolutely beautiful. After having seen most of the young single women in town at Tara's last night, I can honestly say that you are the single most gorgeous woman in town." He found the shirt he was looking for, and as he turned to face her again, he noticed her blush. "Anyone would be lucky to have you. You don't give yourself nearly enough credit, Sook."

Sookie seemed agitated with his answer. "See, I thought that I could trust you of all people to at least be honest with me. But, I should've known that you'd just tell me what you think I want to hear to keep me happy." Eric wasn't sure what she was referring to, and said as much. "Come on, Eric, I'm not stupid. I realize I'm no Medusa, but, don't you dare try and pull that 'you're the prettiest girl in town' shit with me! I know better."

"Sookie, you're being ridiculous." He stepped closer to her, took her hand in his, and after pulling her to her feet, positioned the two of them so she was standing in front of the mirror, with him standing behind her. "Sookie, look at yourself. What do you see?"

"Eric, this is stupid," Sookie said while rolling her eyes.

"No, it's not. And, obviously it's something that needs to be done. Now tell me, what do you see?"

She looked at her reflection for a moment, before sighing loudly. "I see an average looking girl, with pretty blonde hair, and a disproportionate body. Happy now?"

"No, I'm not happy, because that's not at all what you **should** see. When I look at you, I see a woman who has absolutely beautiful blonde hair. Skin that glows with a lovely sun-kissed complexion. Big, bright, beautiful, expressive blue eyes. Cheeks that look like they've been kissed by rose petals. A smile that you could get lost in for days. And a body made firm by years of work, yet still soft and alluring."

His hands, which had been resting on her shoulders, slowly began to stroke her arms as they looked into each other's eyes in the mirror. He could tell by the expression on her face that she was desperately trying to see herself the way that Eric saw her. She bit her lower lip in concentration, and he had to push himself away from her, not wanting her to feel his growing desire for her. He didn't want her to misunderstand his sudden need for space, however, so he said, "Now, scoot! I have to finish getting dressed and get downstairs before Jason eats everything and I end up having to go hungry until lunch!"

As the days began to pass, they settled into the familiar routine. Peter had several big projects that he wanted to work on, and since he now had his full staff, he dove right in. More often than not, Sookie was given a smaller job to handle, and was allowed to pick someone to help her with it, while everyone else was working with Peter. She tried to be fair and judicious when choosing who to work with each day. Sometimes, her choice was made solely based on who would be the most helpful for the specific task. For example, if she was working with the horses, Jason would stay with her, because the horses were the most at ease when he was around.

It did not escape her notice that Bill seemed irritated if she chose Eric or Jason over himself. In her mind, she was choosing them because they didn't get to see each other as often, and she'd missed them. But, in Bill's eyes, Jason and Eric were trying to interfere in his relationship with Sookie. Both had made it clear to him that they would resort to violence if they discovered that Bill was mistreating her in any way. He knew how much influence their opinions held over her. If he wasn't able to find a way to permanently bind her to him, he might lose her for good.

An opportunity presented itself to him not long afterwards. One evening, after they'd left the ranch to go to their own home for dinner, Jesse told his wife, Susan, and Bill about a surprise that Peter had planned for Miranda. Miranda had always been a big fan of George Strait, and he was playing a concert in Salt Lake City the weekend after Miranda's birthday. So, Peter had asked Jesse if he and Susan would like to join them, and Mike, on a four-day trip to Utah. Susan was very excited about the trip. Although she herself was not a member of the church, several of her relatives had been among the groups of Mormon Pioneers who had crossed the country in terrible conditions to settle the Salt Lake Valley. She made Jesse promise to take her to the Pioneer Memorial Museum.

Bill smiled as he listened to his mother rant and rave about how excited she was to see the museum. He knew that it was not something that he would ever find interesting, however, it was always nice to see her happy about something. Susan had been in a wheelchair for the majority of Bill's life. She had muscular dystrophy, and suffered through endless pain because of it. As much as he had no interest in ever seeing the museum himself, he actually regretted that he would not be there to see her reactions to it.

A few days later, Bill was working with Jason, Mike and Peter to re-shoe a couple of horses. He was doing his best to focus on his own task, but, he found his eyes frequently drifting to the back porch of the house, where Eric and Sookie were working. They were trying to repaint the shutters on the outside of the house. It was very obvious that Eric was asked to help Sookie with this task simply because he was tallest, and wouldn't need to keep climbing up and down ladders. But, Bill still didn't like to see the two of them alone together.

He'd known for quite some time that Sookie held an infatuation for Eric. He'd originally thought that it began after Eric saved her life a few years ago. But, when he really analyzed the situation, he could admit that it had started long before that.

His mind was drawn back to the task at hand as he heard Jason speaking with Peter about the Salt Lake trip.

"Dad, I was thinking, since you, Mom, Jesse, Susan, and Mike are all going to be in Utah that one weekend in July, I might drive to Denver to visit Amelia."

"Well, since Sook, Eric and Bill will all be around in case something big comes up, I think that should be just fine."

Bill felt a smirk of satisfaction begin to spread over his face. With everyone but himself, Sookie, and Eric gone, it would be the perfect opportunity to put his plan into action. He would just have to find a way to get Sookie away from Eric for a few hours. It wasn't until he was preparing for bed that evening that he figured out exactly what he needed to do. He picked up his cell phone, and quickly dialed a familiar number.

"_Hello?"_ answered a gruff male voice.

"Malcolm, it's Bill."

"_Well, well, well, Bill Compton. To what do we owe this honor?_"

"I need your help, Malcolm. Things here are getting a little dicey, and I need to seal the deal with my girlfriend before it's too late."

"_And just what exactly is it that you want us to do?"_

"Well, I was hoping that you, Liam, and Diane could throw one of your little 'parties' at my place in a few weeks. Both my parents and hers will be out of town, as will her brother. I'm not going to get a better opportunity."

"_Oh, I think we could probably do that."_ Malcolm stopped speaking for a moment, and Bill could hear Diane's voice in the background. Malcolm laughed, and began to speak once again. "_Diane said she'll only agree to all of this if she gets to fuck you once your little pet has passed out_."

Bill chuckled into the phone. "Oh, but of course. I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm sure that sex with Sookie with be extremely unsatisfactory, since she's still a virgin, and I'll need to do **something** to get off once I'm done with her."

Finally, the day arrived for Peter, Miranda, Jesse, Susan, and Mike to set out for Salt Lake. They planned on driving as far as they could that first day, so, they were up and gone before the sun even came up. Sookie was awake when they left, and went to the kitchen, and made a very large, very delicious breakfast for herself, Eric, and Jason. Once they woke, the three of them ate together, and then Jason went to get his things together so he could start out for Denver. He left just before lunchtime, leaving Eric and Sookie in charge of the ranch.

Sookie had mentioned in passing to Eric that Bill was having some friends over that evening, and that he was more than welcome to join them if he wished to. But, Eric had no desire to see how Bill treated Sookie when he was surrounded by his own friends. So, he chatted with Sookie until Bill came to pick her up for the party, and then he made his way up to his bedroom. He stretched out comfortably on the bed, booted up his laptop, and settled in for a nice evening of solitaire. He should've known better than to assume it would be a quiet, uneventful evening.


	9. Chapter 9

Sookie was both nervous and excited when she climbed into the passenger seat of Bill's truck that evening. Things between them had been tense recently, and she was beginning to feel uncomfortable around him. She knew in her heart that she would never truly love Bill. At least, not the same way that she knew she could love Eric. But, she just couldn't bring herself to hurt him. She had to find a good enough reason to break up with him.

He was having several friends over for a party at his home, and Sookie was aware that these were friends she'd never met. Tara had heard a couple of their names before, and had actually warned Sookie to stay home. She told Sookie that, by going to this party, she'd be putting herself in danger.

Sookie had, very reluctantly, lied to Tara and told her that she wouldn't go. She truly didn't like lying, especially to her best friend, but, she was certain that Tara was just over reacting. Sookie did not truly believe that Bill would ever hurt her. Yell at her, scare her, yes. But do her physical harm? No, she couldn't believe that.

Bill had asked her to wear something casual, but nice, so, she was in a pretty sky blue sundress with yellow daisies on it. She had her hair down, and had put on just a tiny bit of make-up. Bill had approved when he picked her up, and he held her hand the whole time they were in the truck.

"I forgot to tell you that my parents called about 15 minutes before you got to my place," she said, trying to fill the awkward silence.

"Oh?" Bill sounded extremely disinterested.

"Yeah. They made it as far as Canyonlands National Park, just past the border between Colorado and Utah. They found a nice hotel to stay the night at. Mama said to tell you that your mother wanted you to know that she's having a wonderful time, and is taking lots of pictures for you to see."

Bill smiled at this. His mother always loved going new places and seeing new things. Unfortunately, since she was wheelchair bound, she didn't get much opportunity to do so. Sookie took a moment to simply watch Bill as he thought of his mother. Even when he was rude to her when they were children, she'd always admired the way he doted over his mother. She'd always thought of it as his best quality.

Once they finally arrived at Bill's place, Sookie saw that there were several strange cars in the drive, and figured that Bill's friends had arrived before he left for her place. She was fidgeting nervously as she waited for Bill to come and open her door for her, and thought that she heard him chuckle softly at how nervous she was as they walked hand in hand to his front door.

When they entered the living room, Sookie saw that there were about 5 other couples there waiting for them. They were all seated comfortably, chatting, and most had drinks in their hands. She didn't need an acute sense of smell to know that they'd already consumed large amounts of alcohol. A few of the couples were sitting close, and touching each other a little, and Sookie blushed and turned her eyes away.

Bill laughed, and said loudly, "Everyone, this is my girlfriend, Sookie." She smiled a little, trying to be polite, but it didn't really seem as if anyone was paying any attention to them at all. Bill led her over to an empty spot on a sofa, and sat down with her. They had to sit fairly close to one another, but, that fact alone wasn't so horrible, Sookie thought. What was bad was that the couple sitting next to her was very noisily kissing. She was really beginning to regret not listening to Tara; she should've stayed home. Home, she thought, with Eric.

Bill put his arm around her shoulder, and Sookie nudged into him just a bit, because, at least he was familiar. He nuzzled her a little, and began placing kisses on her neck, and behind her ear. She was becoming more and more anxious, and started to squirm a little. Bill misinterpreted the reasoning behind it, and placed his hand on her thigh, and stroked her leg. One of the other couples had moved to the floor by this time, and Sookie closed her eyes and turned away, trying to avoid watching as the man pulled the woman's shirt off, and placed his hands on her naked breasts.

Bill still had one arm around Sookie, while his other hand was slowly snaking its way up her leg underneath her dress, so, when she felt yet **another** hand rub her other leg, she immediately jumped to her feet.

"I'm just going to go to the bathroom. I'll be back in a minute, alright Bill?" she said, trying to keep her voice from shaking.

"Of course, darling. I'll go in the kitchen and get you a coke," he said as he stood, and walked away.

The moment she had the bathroom door shut and locked, she stared at her reflection in the mirror. _What have I gotten myself into_, she wondered? This was a horrible idea, and now, she just needed a way out. She'd find Bill, and if he wouldn't drive her home, she'd call Tara. No, wait, she couldn't call Tara. Tara's not supposed to know she was even at the party! She'd have to call Eric.

She splashed some cold water on her face, doing her best to calm her nerves. Then, after a few more hesitant moments, she strode purposefully from the bathroom towards the kitchen. Bill was still standing at the counter, and he'd just finished pouring a can of Diet Coke into a glass with lots of ice. Standing next to Bill was a thin man with long, greasy looking brown hair that had been pulled back into a ponytail. He was holding what Sookie recognized as a pill grinder.

"So, what exactly is that shit, anyway?" Bill asked the other man.

"It's just a little GHB. It won't knock her completely out, but, it'll take away enough of her energy that she won't be able to fight back, and she'll have some memories of this tomorrow, but it will all be pretty fuzzy."

Sookie watched in horror as the man opened the pill grinder, and poured its contents into the glass of soda that Bill had intended for her to drink! She knew she had to get out of there right away. She turned, and made her back through the living room, and back out the front door as quickly and as quietly as she could. She didn't want to see or speak to Bill.

Thankfully, she had her cell phone in her small purse, which was still slung over her shoulder. As she walked further and further away from Bill's house, she dialed Eric's cell phone number, checking back over her shoulder several times to make sure she wasn't being followed.

Eric's phone rang twice, and Sookie glanced at her watch. It was after midnight, but, he should still be awake. She heard the line pick up, and the moment she heard Eric's voice say, "Hello," tears began to fall. She sniffled, and Eric must've realized it was her who was calling. "Sookie, what is it, what's wrong?"

"Eric, can you please come get me? I wanna go home." She prayed he still had a set of keys to the spare truck. She knew her prayers had been answered when he said, "I'm on my way," and hung up. Tears were flowing freely now, and as she wiped them away from her cheeks, she couldn't help but blame herself for her situation. If only she'd listened to Tara and stayed home.

She turned to make sure, once again, that she wasn't being followed. There was no one on the porch, but, just as she was about to turn away again, the front door opened, and Bill stepped out. She'd never been more grateful for the ugly bushes that lined the driveway, and hid behind one. Bill's face scanned the area, his hands clenched into fists. She knew instinctively that he was beyond angry.

She waited until he went back inside, before she started jogging away from the house. She stayed on the shoulder of the road, and tried to put as much distance as she possibly could between her and Bill's home. She could only hope that he didn't decide to get in his truck to come find her. She couldn't remember a time in her life when she'd been more afraid.

She felt a wave of relief wash over her when she saw Eric driving towards her. He flipped the truck around, and as soon as he stopped moving, she jumped into the passenger seat, and pushed the lock down.

Before he could ask her any questions, she said, "Eric, please just get me home, then I'll tell you all about it. I'm just not ready to talk about it, yet." He nodded, and they drove in silence. He was sitting with his back completely straight, his posture very rigid, both hands gripping the wheel tightly. It took every ounce of personal strength that she had to not scoot over next to him and lay her head on his shoulder.

Once they got back to the ranch, Sookie went straight into the bathroom and locked the door. She turned the shower on and undressed as she waited for the water to get hot. She stepped in and stuck her head underneath the spray, noting the interesting sensation of the hot water running down her back, while he cold tears ran down her cheeks. She washed and rinsed her hair, then picked up the bar of soap and rubbed it around her hands, working up a good lather. She began to run her hands along her arms, but froze when her fingers brushed her collarbone, where Bill's lips had been less than an hour before. She leaned forward slightly and opened her mouth, drawing in deep breaths to help calm the nausea that threatened to overtake her. After a few moments, the sensation passed, and she stood upright again. She picked a coarse rag from the shelf on the side of the shower, and after lathering it up, began to scrub her skin roughly.

When she finally felt as if she'd removed any trace of Bill's touch, she turned off the water, and dried herself. She pulled on a pair of shorts and a camisole she kept on the shelf with extra towels, ran a comb through her hair, and brushed her teeth. As she was putting her toothbrush away, her eyes stopped on a bottle of perfume that Bill had given her when she graduated high school. It wasn't something she would've chosen for herself, but Bill liked it, so she had used it whenever they went out. Before she could stop herself, she grabbed the bottle, and tossed it into the trash can.

She walked out into the hallway, and was glad to see Eric's door was open. She stood in the doorway and just watched him for a moment. He was lying on his bed, one arm behind his head, wearing nothing but a pair of lounge pants. He glanced her way, and the expression on his face softened.

"Can I come in?" she asked him.

"Of course," he answered. She thought about simply sitting down on the edge of the bed, but was too desperate for comfort. So, she crawled up next to him, wrapped her arms around his waist as best as she could, and rested her head on his chest. She felt his muscles tense up, but they relaxed after a moment, and she felt his hand begin to lightly stroke her back.

After several minutes of silence, Sookie began to speak. "When Bill and I first started dating, it was just really casual, and a lot of fun. But, after the first time he kissed me, things changed. He's always trying to push us just a little bit further. Some of the things he did I was okay with, like holding his hand in public, or, lying down next to each other to watch a movie. He wanted to lie on top of me once while we were making out, but, I told him that was going too far way too fast." She blushed, and buried her face in Eric's chest for a moment, embarrassed to be lying in Eric's arms, remember the intimate parts of her relationship with Bill. "He's never gotten upset with me when I told him no to anything, but, it wasn't long until he was trying something else. Tonight, all the other friends who came over were in couples, and they'd all been drinking. They were all on the couches and floor in the living room, and they were, um, doing stuff."

Eric's hand froze on her back, and she felt all the muscles in his body tense up. "Are you telling me Bill was holding an orgy?"

"Um, yeah, I think that's what it was. Bill was kissing on my neck, and I got really uncomfortable and said I had to go to the bathroom, and Bill said he was gonna get me a soda. I went to the bathroom and splashed cold water on my face, and got up the nerves to go tell him I wanted to leave. When I went into the kitchen, I found him crushing pills and adding them to a glass of coke."

Eric sat up, pulling her up with him. He placed his hands on her shoulders, and looked deeply into her eyes. "What were the pills, Sookie?"

She remembered the conversation she heard between Bill and the other man in the kitchen, and felt a chill run over her body. She cast her eyes downward, ashamed of the answer to his question. "It was GHB," she said softly.

Eric was off the bed and on his feet in seconds. "That son of a bitch!" he yelled. "That's a date rape drug, Sookie! I'm gonna kill that bastard!"

She stood and grabbed his hand. "Eric, no, please. I don't want you to do anything."

He looked her square in the eye, and his expression was one of pure rage. It was the first time she'd ever actually felt frightened of him. "Why not?" He asked, sounding exasperated. "Don't tell me you're going to defend his actions?"

Her mind flashed back to the look on Bill's face when he stood on the porch, searching for her with his eyes after she'd left the house. She worried about what Bill would do if Eric confronted him. "No, of course not. But, I'm sure he got rid of the stuff, and, if you go over there and do something, his friends will all see, and you'll be arrested for assault. He's not worth it." She held one of his hands in both of hers, trying to get him to calm down and see reason.

"Sookie, we can't just let this slide. What if he tries to do this to someone else?"

"I know. I thought about that. Eric, I never want to see him again. But, he **does** work here. I'm gonna have to talk to Daddy and Jesse. Between the two of them, I'm sure they'll figure something out."

She thought of Bill's mother, Susan. She was such a sweet woman, but she was extremely fragile. If she learned of this, Sookie was certain it would destroy her. She wanted to be rid of Bill, but couldn't stand to hurt his mother. She felt her eyes fill with tears, and Eric pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her. She wrapped her own around his waist, and they just stood and held each other for several moments.

Eric finally pulled away from her, held her face in his hands, and looked into her eyes. "I swear to God, I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to you." He lightly stroked her cheek with his thumb, and watched as she bit her lower lip. In that moment, he had an overwhelming desire to make her feel safe, and cherished. Before he could stop himself, he placed his lips on hers and softly kissed her. After allowing his lips to linger for a moment, he started to pull away, and she made a sound of disappointment. He kissed her again, running his tongue along her lower lip, wordlessly asking for entry. She parted her lips and allowed his tongue to slip inside her mouth. She tasted like peppermint, and he could tell that she'd just brushed her teeth. He growled softly when he felt her tongue push against his. She moved her hands up and wrapped them around his neck, and he pulled her even tighter against him. He felt her nipples pebble and harden through the soft cotton of her camisole, pushing them against his bare chest.

She had wanted to kiss and touch him for so long, she felt like she was in sensory overload when it finally happened. In the back of her mind, she knew she should pull away. She wanted him, of that she was sure. But, jumping right into bed with Eric after what had just transpired with Bill couldn't be the right answer, could it? She pulled her mouth from his when she felt her lungs would burst from lack of oxygen, and he slowly moved his mouth along hew jaw line to her neck, nipping and sucking various spots along the way. _Aww, to hell with it_, she thought! She moved her hands to his chest, and pushed just hard enough for him to take a couple of steps backward, until the back of his calves came into contact with his bed, forcing him to sit. She kissed him again, and pushed against him more, and he took the hint, and scooted further back into the center of the bed. She crawled into his lap, placing her knees on either side of his muscular thighs, and ground her pelvis against his. The feel of her warm center against his large erection finally made him snap back to reality.

"Sookie, wait," he said, panting. "Are you sure? You and Bill…"

"Eric, I **never** wanted Bill. I only agreed to go out with him after I found out that you had a girlfriend. Ever since I found out that you and Pam broke up, I've been trying to figure out how to end things with Bill without hurting him. Obviously, he took care of that for me tonight. I've always been yours."

Upon hearing her confession, he allowed his overwhelming desire for her to take over. He hooked his fingers underneath her camisole, and she raised her arms as he pulled it off of her body, seeing her bare breasts for the first time. "Beautiful," he whispered as he cupped one breast with his hand, and fastened his mouth on the other. She gasped at the pleasure, and tangled her fingers in his hair. He ran one hand down her back, over her ass, and down her thighs, and then lifted slightly, rolling them so her head was on his pillow, and he was lying on top of her, bracing his weight on his elbows at her sides. She lifted her leg until her knee was hitched over his hip, and he reached down and stroked her leg, as he moved his mouth to hers and kissed her deeply.

When he broke their kiss in order to gasp for breath, she moaned and said, "Eric, oh God, more." He smiled down at her as he moved to his knees between her legs, and slowly removed her shorts. He sat back for a moment, taking in the full effect of Sookie, lying naked on his bed, her lips swollen from his kisses, moaning with desire for him. He leaned forward again and trailed kisses over her breasts, down her stomach, and to her hips. He moved his hand to her center and groaned.

He parted her folds, and rubbed his finger gently over her clit. She moaned and her hips bucked off the bed. He placed his hand on her stomach as he lowered his mouth to her. At the same time his tongue touched her clit, he slipped a finger inside of her. He closed his eyes in ecstasy as he felt how tight she was. He massaged her with his tongue, as he began to slowly thrust his finger in and out of her, before adding another, stretching her to prepare for what was to come. She was writhing underneath him, and her moans got louder as her breathing picked up speed. He knew she was getting close, and he lifted his mouth from her and said, "That's it, Sookie. Just let go and cum for me." A moment later, she cried out his name as she reached her climax.

He moved back over the length of her body and kissed her gently. She put her hands under the waistband of his lounge pants, so he stood to remove them. He couldn't help but smirk when her eyes widened when she saw how large he was. He reached down and took her hand in his, and put it on his cock, stroking himself with her hand. "Sookie, don't be afraid."

She looked into his eyes, smiled softly and whispered, "I trust you."

He reached into his nightstand, unwrapped a condom and rolled it on. He lay back down on top of her again, and positioned himself at her entrance. He placed his hands on her cheeks, and looked deeply into her eyes and he pushed slowly inside of her. He heard her breath catch, and saw her close her eyes at the pain. Once he was fully embedded inside of her, he went completely still. He saw a tear run down her cheek, and kissed it away. She opened her eyes to look at him again, and he slowly began moving inside of her. She was so wet and tight that he wanted to pound into her, but knew she deserved better than that. She deserved to be worshipped like the goddess she was.

He felt her wrap her legs around his waist, and she began moaning at the intense pleasure she felt. He kissed her deeply as he increased his speed. "Eric, oh God, yes" she said over and over. He put his hands underneath her hips and adjusted the angle slightly so he was able to go even deeper inside of her. She was meeting him thrust for thrust, and her fingers were digging into his biceps. He leaned down and took her nipple into his mouth, and it sent her over the edge. He heard her cry out his name, and he reached his own peak. It was the most intense orgasm he'd ever experienced.

After he was able to catch his breath, he excused himself to the bathroom to discard the condom, and went back to join her in bed. He lay down on his back, and pulled her to him, and she rested her head on his chest. He wasn't surprised when her breathing evened out shortly afterwards, knowing how exhausted she must have been. And, it was then that he finally understood. He'd wanted Sookie before he even knew what it truly meant to want someone. He knew that they had a whole list of things they'd have to deal with, beginning with Bill. But, in that very moment, none of it mattered. The only thing that mattered to him was sleeping in his arms. Secure in that knowledge, he let himself drift off into sleep.

They had only drowsed for an hour or so when the sound of Sookie's cell phone ringing woke them. She immediately recognized the ring tone and knew that it was Bill calling. She slowly crawled out of Eric's arms, went across the room to grab her purse, and pulled her phone out. She hit the ignore button to send the call to voicemail, and turned the phone off so it wouldn't bother them again. She turned and saw that Eric was watching her intently, and she became suddenly shy of her nakedness. She reached down and grabbed Eric's discarded t-shirt, and pulled it on. "I'm gonna go get a glass of water, okay?" Eric smiled and nodded, and she left the room, slowly walking down the stairs in the dark. She was aware of a tenderness between her legs, and she blushed to herself.

When she returned to Eric's room, she was touched to see that he'd put his lounge pants back on. She crawled back into the bed with him, and he shifted so he was spooning her from behind, and wrapped his arms around her.

"You okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine. Just a little overwhelmed. Today has been one hell of a day."

"Yes it has. Any regrets?"

"Sort of, but not really, if that makes sense." She laughed a little at herself. "I knew that when I broke up with Bill, he'd be pretty upset. But, I never thought that he would actually physically hurt me. The party at his place was definitely a rude awakening. But, at the same time, I'm glad it happened, because now I'm here with you."

"I know what you mean. I look back on my relationship with Pam, and, although I really regret the way it ended, I'm glad it's over. It made me really think hard about what I really wanted, and who I really wanted to be with," he nuzzled her neck with his nose as he finished his sentence.

"Speaking of which," she said, half turning her head to see his face, "why did you guys break up?"

He told her all about the conversation between himself and Stan that Pam had overheard, and about the things Pam said to him before she stormed off. "Eric, I can't believe you did that. You need to make sure to give her a face to face apology next time you see her."

"I know. I treated her like shit. I hope that she'll talk to me, but, if she won't, I can't say that I'd blame her. Hey, thinking of that, though, what did you mean when you said that you only agreed to go out with Bill after you found out I had a girlfriend?"

"Well, I knew that you had gone out on a couple of dates with Pam, but, you never said that you guys were exclusive. Then, more and more time started to pass between your emails, and they kept getting shorter and shorter. I tried to call you on the second day of your break, but you never answered. When I asked Mike if he knew why, he told me that you'd gone to Mexico with your girlfriend." She paused and took a deep breath, remembering the pain she'd felt. "It had been almost two years since I'd seen you, and Jason was gone, too. I just felt lonely. And then, Bill was always telling me how pretty I was, and he kept asking me out. I finally said yes because I just wanted to be around someone who valued me."

He turned her over so she was facing him, and forced her to look in his eyes. "Sookie, listen to me. You are **always** valued. Please remember that even if Jason and I aren't right here with you all the time, it doesn't mean we care about you any less. Plus, your parents, Tara, Mike, they all adore you. You are so special to so many people. Don't ever forget that."

She leaned forward and pressed her forehead to his, letting his words wash over her. After a moment, she felt him shift his head slightly, and press his lips to hers, kissing her softly. She moaned a little, and he pulled her closer as he deepened the kiss. Just as his hand began to slide underneath the hem of her shirt, they heard the sound of a vehicle slamming on its brakes on the gravel driveway. They heard a car door slam, then banging on the front door.

"It's Bill," Sookie said, terror evident in her voice.

Eric stood up from the bed, and began walking into the hallway as he said, "stay here, I'll take care of it."

She wanted to argue with him, but knew that nothing she said would stop the confrontation that was about to happen.

She saw the faint glow of light as Eric turned on the lamp in the living room, then heard the front door open.

"What do you want, Compton?" Eric asked.

"Where the hell is Sookie? She was at my house one minute, then she was gone, and now she won't answer her phone. I'm worried about her."

"Sure, like I believe that. Sookie's fine, she's safe. That's all you need to know. Now leave."

"No! I'm not leaving until I talk to her. I wanna know why the fuck she just left without saying anything."

"That's not gonna happen, Bill. It's the middle of the night, and you're drunk. There's no way I'm letting you anywhere near her. Now, **go home**."

Sookie heard Bill growl, and began to feel frightened for Eric. She left the bed, and went to stand in the doorway of Eric's bedroom. From that angle, she could see Eric and Bill, but they wouldn't be able to see her.

"I have a right to be here, Northman. Now get the hell out of my way, I'm going to talk to her."

"No, you're not. And if you don't leave right now, I'll call the cops."

"You slept with her, didn't you?" Bill yelled at Eric.

"Get the hell out of here, Bill," Eric said, his voice growing more and more angry.

"Not until you answer my question. You did it, didn't you? You fucked my girlfriend!"

Eric's voice was cold as ice as he replied, "No, Bill, I didn't fuck your girlfriend. I made love to mine," and slammed the door in Bill's face.


	10. Chapter 10

Eric stood at the front door, gazing out the curtained window until he was sure that Bill had indeed left. Then, he took a few deep breaths to compose himself. He didn't want to return to Sookie with his temper in its current state.

Once he felt at least semi-calm, he climbed the staircase and went down the hall to his room. He was looking forward to crawling back into bed, and holding Sookie in his arms as they slept. They'd both had a very long, very hard day.

He was surprised by what he found when he looked into his room. Sookie, tears streaming down her cheeks, was trying to pull her clothes back on, but was struggling as her hands were shaking. He hadn't thought the confrontation with Bill would upset her so.

"Sookie, calm down. He's gone, you're fine." He went to her, and tried to pull her into a hug, but she shoved him away.

"Eric, how could you do that to me? How could you say that, with no regard to my feelings?"

"Sookie, I realize that I didn't actually **ask** you if you'd like to be my girlfriend before I told Bill that you were, but, after what happened between us tonight, I kind of assumed…"

"Eric, I couldn't care less that you told Bill we are together. I've wanted nothing more than to have that be the truth for years!"

"Then, what are you so upset about?"

"You know how important it is to me that my private life remains private. Yet, in order to 'one-up' Bill, you just had to go and tell him that we'd had sex! And now, knowing what a complete ass he is, I'm sure he'll go back to his place and tell all his friends, and by noon tomorrow, the whole damn town will know!"

She was shaking uncontrollably at this point, and had abandoned trying to put her shorts back on. Instead, she simply sank to a sitting position on Eric's bed, still wearing only his t-shirt. She dropped her head into her hands as tears continued to fall.

Eric sat down next to her and wrapped one arm around her shoulders. "Sookie, lover, calm down. It's not as bad as you think."

"How could it be not that bad, Eric?" she wailed.

"Sookie, trust me, I've seen Bill this drunk before. He won't remember our conversation ten minutes from now, let alone remember it well enough to tell anyone about it. I knew there was no danger in anyone else finding out what I'd told him, and it was the quickest way to get him to leave."

She slowly lifted her head and turned to look at him. She could see by the look in his eyes that he was being completely sincere. She leaned into him and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Why does everything always have to be so complicated? Why can't happiness just come easily for once?"

He laughed softly, and began running his hand up and down her arm. "Sweetheart, if happiness weren't difficult to achieve, you wouldn't appreciate it as much. That's what's so great about life. You have to work really hard to get the things you really want, and it's the effort that makes them so wonderful. If things just fell in your lap, you wouldn't appreciate them, you'd take them for granted."

She sat upright, and turned to give him a look of mock disgust, before he added, "When I say _you_, I mean mankind in general, not you specifically."

She laughed, and leaned in to kiss him. "I'm exhausted," she said when she ended the kiss. "Let's just get some sleep, okay?"

"Now that sounds just wonderful," he said with a smile. They lay back down on the bed together, and Eric pulled the blanket over the top of them. They continued to kiss softly for a few moments until Sookie finally gave in once again to exhaustion, and Eric wasn't far behind.

When Eric woke the next morning, he was disappointed to find himself alone in his bed. He'd been hoping to start the day with a little fun. As he left his bedroom to walk to the bathroom down the hall, he could smell coffee and cinnamon, and heard music playing in the kitchen. He made use of the bathroom, being sure to remove any morning breath he might have, and went downstairs to join Sookie.

His eyes fell on her immediately, and she was dancing and singing softly to herself while she flipped some French toast in a pan on the stove. He made a mental note to ask why she was already dressed. He silently glided up behind her, and wrapped his arms around her, bending slightly to place a kiss on her cheek.

"Good morning, lover," he said drowsily. He felt her lean back into him, and she sighed and smiled as he kissed the spot just behind her ear. "I have to say, I was disappointed when I woke up alone this morning," he said as he released her and grabbed a mug for some coffee.

"Sorry about that. My internal alarm clock is set to 'Daddy-time,' which means I'm up every morning by 5am. I knew I wouldn't be able to get back to sleep, so, I went out and fed the horses, and then decided to make you breakfast. It was **going** to be breakfast in bed, but, you woke up and just ruined all my hard work."

He chuckled, leaned over and placed a tender kiss to her mouth. "I promise you, from now on, I'll be in bed whenever you want me to be." He waggled his eyebrows and leered at her, and she laughed loudly.

They sat down together and began to eat. Every couple of minutes, Eric would reach out and stroke Sookie's arm with his fingertips, or squeeze her hand. He didn't want to go very long without touching her in some way. They discussed everything that would need to be done around the ranch that day. They knew it would take a great deal more time and effort than they'd originally thought, since it was just the two of them, instead of having Bill's help. As much as they agreed that he was a complete bastard, they couldn't deny that he was good at his job. He worked hard, and he worked fast.

In order to get everything finished, they knew they'd have to split up and do a few things separately. However, for safety, and their own comfort, they decided to never be out of the other's sight. Before they knew it, it was lunch time, and they had finally finished what normally would've only taken an hour or so to do.

They sat together in the kitchen and ate some leftover chicken and potato salad, and decided it was time for a nap. They'd both worked hard that morning, and the night before had been very exhausting, both physically and mentally. Sookie took her shoes, socks and pants off, and Eric stripped down to his boxers. They cuddled up together in Eric's bed, and were both asleep within minutes.

Eric began to wake to a very pleasurable sensation. It was something he'd experienced before, but yet, somehow, this was different. He opened his eyes slowly, and once they focused, he saw what he could only describe as the sexiest thing he'd ever seen. Sookie was on her knees between his legs, and she was slowly stroking his hardening cock with her hand, running her tongue over the tip. He growled out loud at the feel and sight of it, and she looked up and looked into his eyes. She winked, and slowly put her lips around him, and took as much of his length as she could into her mouth.

Eric could tell that she was very inexperienced, but, she definitely had raw talent! He concentrated as hard as he could on keeping his breathing slow, to draw out the experience. He could tell that Sookie was getting very turned on by what she was doing, because she started to moan a little, and her speed increased as she worked her mouth up and down over him. With no warning, she released him from her mouth, sat back a bit, and began to take her panties off. Eric quickly reached over and grabbed a condom from his nightstand, took the wrapper off and rolled it onto himself.

Sookie slowly climbed onto his lap, but she had a small look of worry on her face. "Eric, I don't know…I'm not sure how to do…."

"Sookie, shh. Just do whatever comes naturally to you. I promise you, you can't do this wrong."

She sat up on her knees, and he used his hand to put himself at her entrance, and then she sank down, taking him into her. They both groaned at the wonderful sensation. Sookie began to try to move awkwardly, and Eric could tell by the look on her face that she was feeling very insecure. So, he moved his hands to her hips, and began to guide her, to help her.

It didn't take long before she'd found a rhythm she could work with, and Eric let his hands drop back down to the bed. He wanted to close his eyes at the wonderful sensations he was feeling, but, he couldn't get over how exotic she looked. Sookie leaned forward just a bit, rested her hands on Eric's stomach, and looked deeply into his eyes as she increased her speed yet again. She was suddenly flying on a wave of pleasure, and hadn't expected it. Just as she was coming back down from her orgasmic high, she heard Eric call out her name, and knew he'd found his release as well.

After she'd caught her breath, she rolled to lay by Eric's side, and he turned and kissed her very passionately. She smiled up at the ceiling as Eric stood and went to the restroom to discard the condom and clean himself up. When he walked back into the room, she noticed it was already 3pm, and told him that it was probably time for them to get back to work.

Once they were again fully clothed, they saddled up their horses, and went for their daily ride along the perimeter of the property. They slowly checked on the herd of cattle, and simply enjoyed the cool breeze in the hot sun. When they returned to the stables, Eric took care of the horses, while Sookie went into the house to put a couple of potatoes into the oven to bake for their supper.

When Eric joined her in the house, she was still in the kitchen, mixing together the ingredients for a meatloaf. He leaned his back against the counter next to where she was working, and smiled at her as she worked.

"So, I've got a question for you," she said after a moment had passed.

"Ask me anything, I have no secrets from you, you know that."

"When you got here at the beginning of the summer, you'd just broken up with Pam, right?" He nodded, and she continued. "Did you have any expectations that you'd hook up with someone else while you were here?"

He wouldn't tell where she was going with this line of questioning, and he found himself very curious. "No, I hadn't planned on starting a new relationship. It's not like I told myself I would stay single, but, I hadn't really planned on looking for someone at the moment. Why?"

She finished putting the mixture into a bread pan, set it in the oven, and went to the sink to wash her hands. "Then, why do you have condoms in your nightstand?"

He laughed, never having seen that question coming. He moved walked to where she was, wrapped his arms around her, pulled her back to his chest, and kissed her cheek. "They actually belonged to Jason. One evening while you were out with Bill, he and I were talking, and he said that he'd never been very successful at being monogamous, and he was afraid that if he had protection readily available, he'd be too tempted to cheat on Amelia. So, he gave them to me for safe-keeping."

"And never in a million years did I think you'd make use of them with my sister!" They both started violently, and turned to the sound of the voice. Jason stood, leaning against the doorframe, looking at them with a smirk on his face. Next to him stood a woman with shoulder length curly brown hair. She was wearing a pair of khaki colored shorts, a black tank top, and black flip flops.

"Jason, what the heck are you doing here?" Sookie asked. She was both excited and nervous about his early return.

"Well, that's a bit of a funny story. But, introductions need to come first. Sookie, Eric, this is my girlfriend, Amelia," he said, gesturing to the woman standing next to him, who smiled at kind of waved at them. "Amelia, this is my sister Sookie, and this is Eric."

Amelia looked puzzled, and turned to Jason. "I thought you said her boyfriend's name was Bill?"

Jason turned his gaze back to his sister. "Well, as far as I knew, her boyfriend **was** Bill. Sookie, care to explain?"

Sookie blushed, but shook her head and said, "Oh, no, you answer my question first. Why are you here?"

"Well, Amelia and I were eating breakfast this morning when I got a phone call from Daddy. He said that Bill had called Jesse and said that he was very sick, and was going to have to stay home in bed all weekend. So, Daddy called to ask me if I'd come back early to help out around here. Since Amelia works as a massage therapist and can set her own schedule, she decided to come with me. Now spill!"

"Why don't you let me, Sookie?" Eric asked, and Sookie let out a sigh of relief. She didn't think she could handle telling Jason about what had happened with Bill. Amelia, Eric, and Jason all sat down at the table together, while Sookie put two more potatoes into the oven, since the number of people who'd be eating dinner had just doubled.

Eric filled Jason in on what had happened since he left the day before, and Sookie wasn't at all surprised to see Jason's hands clenched into fists as they rested on the table. She was, however, shocked when Amelia stood from the table, pulled Sookie into a hug, and said, "Oh, you poor thing! Are you alright?"

Sookie couldn't help but smile. "I'm not sure, but, I know that I **will** be. Thank you so much for asking." She pulled away from Amelia, and they smiled at each other, before Amelia went to sit back down next to Jason.

"I can't believe you let that bastard just leave here last night, Eric. I would've fucking killed him!" Jason's voice was laced with barely contained rage.

"Oh, believe me, I wanted to. The only that stopped me was Sookie. She very wisely figured that by the time I got to Bill's place, he and his cronies would've destroyed all the evidence, and I'd probably get myself arrested if I kicked the shit out of him, like I wanted to."

Sookie couldn't help but giggle a little when Amelia looked at her, rolled her eyes, and murmured something that sounded a little like "me Tarzan, you Jane." Jason laughed and shook his head, before wrapping an arm around Amelia's shoulder and pulling her closer to him.

"So, now," Sookie said, trying to get the conversation back on the right track, "we have to decide how much to tell Daddy and Jesse. I'm not looking forward to telling Daddy _everything_, but, I think it may be for the best. I just don't want Jesse and Susan to find out. It'll break poor Susan's heart."

Amelia looked confused for a moment, and Jason leaned over to her, and explained about Susan's health issues, and her emotional frailty.

"I don't want to even **begin **thinking about having to see Bill here every single day, but, I know how hard he works, and how much Daddy depends on him. I don't want everyone else to suffer because of me." To her own shame, Sookie felt a tear fall down her cheek as she spoke.

Eric took her hands in his, and leaned in to place a kiss on the tip of her nose. "Sookie, none of this is your fault. No matter what happens, this isn't because of you. All of this is happening because Bill is a horrible, terrible, dirty rotten bastard." Sookie looked up at him, smiled, and nodded her head.

The conversation eventually drifted into lighter topics, including Amelia telling Sookie and Eric all about herself. They all ate dinner together, and then Amelia offered to help Sookie with the clean-up. While the two women were washing the dishes, Jason motioned for Eric to join him, and they went out to the back porch.

"Listen, Eric, there's something that I think you should know." Jason sounded a little apprehensive, which worried Eric.

"Okay, I'm listening."

"I don't want Sookie to know about this, though. Not right now, anyway." He waited until Eric nodded his head before continuing. "Do you remember the summer before we started our senior year in high school, we all drove out to the lake and spent the day swimming?"

"Yeah, I remember that. It was about a month after Sookie got thrown into the river cause of that mountain lion, and she spent most of the time on the beach, because she was a little afraid of the water."

"Right. Well, when we were all packing up to leave that night, Mama and Sookie went into the trees, and held up a blanket for each other to have some privacy so they could change back out of their bathing suits."

Eric laughed a little. "I remember that. Sookie complained and said it wasn't fair that us guys just had to put a shirt on, and they had to completely change."

"Yeah. Well, when they were off changing, I noticed that Bill had wandered off somewhere. When he came back, I asked him about it, and he said he'd just gone off into the trees somewhere to take a leak. I believed him, at the time. But, a couple of weeks later, I overheard him talking to one of the guys from school, and he said he'd been spying on both Sookie and Mama changing their clothes. I thought he was just making it all up to make himself look good, or something. I don't think that's the truth anymore, though." Jason hung his head in shame. "I think that Bill's had in his mind for a long time now that Sookie would be his. We both know he's a sore loser. He's not just gonna let this go. He'll fight to get her back."

Eric stared into the dark sky, stunned silent. He'd always suspected that Bill was a bit of a peeping tom, but, never had a way to back it up with hard evidence.

"Sookie's had some pretty strong feelings for you for a while now. She tried to hide it, but, I could still see it. She trusts you. I trust you. Take care of her, okay?"

Eric turned to look back at Jason. "Of course. I would never hurt her. And I'll kill Bill before I let him hurt her anymore than he already has."

They didn't have a chance to say anything more, because Sookie and Amelia came out to join them. They built a fire in the fire pit, and laughed and talked together, just having fun being young. Finally, Amelia stood up, pulled Jason by the hand, and they walked back into the house. Eric dosed the fire, and he and Sookie went back into the house as well.

As they started to make their way up the staircase, they could hear Amelia giggling in Jason's room. Sookie blushed a little, and Eric just chuckled. Once they reached the landing, Sookie went into her room, and changed into a pair of sleep shorts and a tank top, and then went into the bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth. Eric had made use of the bathroom while Sookie was changing, so he quickly changed his own clothes, and stood in the hallway next to the bathroom door to wait for Sookie.

The moment she left the bathroom, he grabbed her, picked her up bridal style, and carried her into his room. He gently set her down on the bed, and turned and locked his door. "Oh no, Eric. I am not having sex with you tonight! Have you forgotten that Jason and Amelia are right down the hall?"

Before he could answer her, they heard a soft "thump, thump," followed by loud moaning from Amelia. Sookie slapped her hand over her mouth to keep from laughing out loud. "Oh, no, I don't think I could forget about that just now," Eric said. "I know that you wouldn't want to do anything with them just down the hall from us. I was hoping you'd sleep in here with me tonight though. The past 24 hours has kind of spoiled me, and I don't know that I could sleep without you in my arms just yet."

She looked at him for a moment, and he wished he could read her mind. Finally, she said, "oh, alright," and crawled underneath the covers on his bed. He turned the light, and joined her in the bed, pulling her into his arms. They lay silently, simply holding each other for a few moments, before Eric spoke again.

"Sookie, what made you decide that you didn't want to go to college?" This was something he'd thought long and hard about. He knew she loved learning new things, and it just didn't seem possible that she'd give up the opportunity of continuing her education.

She stiffened slightly, and said, "Who told you I didn't want to go to college?"

"Listen, I know you didn't tell me yourself, but…"

She laughed, and placed her finger of his lips, effectively shutting him up. "Let me rephrase that, Eric. Who lied to you and told you I didn't want to go to college, because that statement is very much untrue?"

He smiled. "Jesse said something about you being here during the fall."

"Eric, I **do** want to go to college. In fact, I applied for two different schools, and was accepted at both. But, I didn't decide which one I liked more in time to sign up for fall semester, so, I won't be starting until next spring."

"Where did you apply?"

"Oh, the school's you and Jason go to." Eric smiled, but hesitated, not allowed himself to hope she'd chosen to go to Texas, where he would be. "And which did you choose?"

"Well, let me put it this way. It's a good thing I'll have at least one friend there, because Texas is a long way from home."

She started to giggle, but he silenced her by kissing her deeply. It seemed her plans for not having sex while Jason and Amelia were there suddenly didn't matter so much.


	11. Chapter 11

"Ya know, baby, you **might** want to find someplace else to stand, I'm afraid the floorboards there are going to weaken and break any moment." Sookie stopped in her tracks and turned to look at Eric, who was now smiling at her. He'd been watching her nervously pace for the past hour.

"I know, I know. But, I'm just so damned nervous. Mama and Daddy are gonna be here soon, and I am **not** looking forward to the conversation we're going to need to have."

Eric just nodded silently. He was dreading it just as much as Sookie was, but, for an entirely different reason. Sookie had to tell her father that his best friend's son had tried to rape her. He had no doubt that Peter would be extremely tempted to shoot Bill Compton for what he'd attempted to do, which made him all the more nervous. He knew he would need to tell Peter that he and Sookie were together now. Peter wasn't a stupid man. He'd most likely figure out that Eric and Sookie had had sex. Eric had no clue how Peter was going to react when he found out that one of his employees had deflowered his little girl under his own roof.

They heard the timer go off in the kitchen, and Sookie went to take the ham she'd been baking out of the oven. Eric followed behind her, wanting to spend as much time with her as he possibly could. He knew that once Peter and Miranda returned, things between himself and Sookie would change dramatically. They'd been in their own little bubble for the past three days. Since the situation was decidedly different from what he'd expected, Jason and Amelia had gone back to Denver the morning after they'd arrived. Jason himself was due back soon.

Sookie took a stack of plates out of the cupboard, set them in front of Eric, and looked at him expectantly with her eyebrows raised. He chuckled, took the hint, and began setting the table. Once he had plates, silverware, and napkins all laid out, he helped her move the dishes with the hot food to the center of the plate. There was the ham, freshly baked rolls, corn-on-the-cob absolutely dripping with butter, and some sort of potato dish that Eric had never heard of.

"Tell me again what this potato thing is called?" he asked, trying to calm her with a distraction.

"Funeral Potatoes," she answered, while attempting to not chew on her fingernails.

"Alright, and **why** are they called Funeral Potatoes?"

"Susan gave Mama and me this recipe several years ago, and when we asked her the same question, she said that it was just the nickname for them because people would always bring them to a person's house after there was a death in the family."

She had just taken a pitcher of lemonade when they heard the sound of a car crunching on the gravel driveway. She set the pitcher down on the table, and Eric noticed that her hands were trembling. He pulled her into a hug, and after pulling back, looked into her eyes and said, "Sookie, it's going to be okay. I'm right here with you." She nodded her head, kissed him quickly, then went into the living room to greet her parents.

Miranda was the first through the door, and she smiled brightly and hugged Sookie. Eric squeezed Miranda's shoulder quickly before going out to help Peter bring their bags in. Once the men had entered the house, Peter hugged Sookie, as Miranda placed a kiss to Eric's cheek.

Sookie ushered them into the dining room, saying they should eat while the food was still hot. Dinner passed by without any problems, mainly because Miranda was the one doing all the talking. She told Sookie all about the concert, and the details of all the sight-seeing they'd done. They had just started dessert when Jason walked in. Sookie had left him a supper plate in the oven, so, while the others ate peach cobbler, Jason scarffed down his food, then had a large helping of cobbler to top it off.

Sookie had just finished clearing the table, and turned to Eric, a look of pleading and desperation in her eyes. He knew it was time for 'the talk.' They had agreed that they would both sit down with Peter and hash it all out, but, they weren't sure how to get him alone without making Miranda suspicious. Eric's eyes suddenly widened, and the corners of his mouth turned up into a small smile. Sookie wasn't sure what he was planning, but watched as he nonchalantly said something quickly and quietly to Jason. Less than two minutes later, Jason was pulling Miranda by the hand, saying he wanted her to show him all the pictures from their trip.

As soon as the two of them had left the room, Sookie and Eric went to find Peter. He was sitting on the swing on the front porch, simply enjoying the cool night breeze.

"Daddy, um, can we talk to you?"

Peter stiffened. He knew this wasn't going to be a friendly chat about the weather. "Sure, princess. Why don't you two come take a seat?"

Sookie sat down next to her father, and Eric sat on her other side. Sookie took a deep breath, blew it out quickly, and began. "Daddy, you know how Bill called Jesse and said that he was sick while y'all were gone?"

"Yes."

"Well, that wasn't necessarily the whole truth."

"Yeah, when Jason called me yesterday and said he was going to take Amelia back to Denver and would be home sometime tonight, I figured something was up. Spill."

"Well, Bill had some friends over to his place Friday night. It was a bunch of his friends who I'd never met before. Tara said she didn't trust Bill, and made me promise to stay home that night. I broke my promise, though, and left with Bill when he came to pick me up. When we got to his place, his friends were already there. They were all older than me. In fact, if I had to guess, I'd say they were probably all older than Bill, too." She took a deep breath, knowing she was getting to the bad part. "They were all in couples, and most of them were in the living room, and they were, um, kissing and stuff. I was really uncomfortable with the whole thing, so I excused myself to the bathroom. While I was in there, I realized that Tara had been right, so, I went to find Bill to tell him I was going home. He'd told me he was going to get me a drink, so I poked my head into the kitchen and saw him, but, he wasn't alone. He and some other guy were crushing up pills and putting them in the glass of soda Bill was going to give me." Sookie noticed that her father's body had tensed up, and her voice began to quiver. She felt Eric's large, rough hand wrap around her own, twining their fingers. She squeezed his hand tightly, and resumed her story. "Bill was asking the other guy what exactly the pills were, and the guy said it would take away my energy so I couldn't fight back, but it wouldn't knock me out, and that when I woke up the next day, my memory would be kinda fuzzy."

"The other people in the room weren't just kissing, were they, Sookie?" Peter asked.

"No, they weren't, Daddy. I ran out of the house as soon as I heard what Bill and the other boy were saying. As I went through the living room, I could see that some of them were having sex." Eric flinched. She hadn't told him that detail. "When I got outside, I rushed to the end of the driveway and called Eric to come pick me up. Just after I got off the phone with him, I saw Bill on the porch, and I knew he must've realized I left. He looked really mad. Once he went back inside, I started walking towards home, just praying he wouldn't come find me. Eric got there, and brought me home. A couple hours later, Bill showed up at the house, but, Eric told him to leave. He said he wouldn't leave until he saw me, but Eric told him he was too drunk and that he should just go home. That's the last time we saw him, and I haven't heard from him since then, either."

Peter rose, walked to the edge of the porch, and leaned on the railing, his hands gripping it tightly. Sookie and Eric could see from his posture that he was putting forth a great effort to try and remain calm. They remained in complete silence for a few minutes, until Sookie finally spoke again.

"Daddy?"

Upon hearing the fear and guilt in her voice, Peter balled his hands into fists and brought them down hard on the railing, and yelled, "Damnit!"

Sookie immediately went to stand at his side, and put her hand on his forearm. "Daddy, I'm so sorry. I never meant for any of this to happen."

Peter turned to her and pulled her into a tight hug. "Princess, this is not your fault. You are completely innocent of any wrongdoing in this situation. I'm mad at Bill, but mostly, I'm mad at myself. I should've seen the warning signs. I could've prevented all of this."

"Don't say that," Eric said, as he stood and went to join the other two. "Peter, Jason and I talked about this the other night. Maybe if we'd been looking for them, we would've seen some red flags that this was going to happen. But, there is no one to blame but Bill. This all falls on him."

Their conversation was interrupted when Jason came out the front door and strode over to them with a purpose. "Just the people I was looking for," he said as he reached them, before turning his attention to Eric. "I'm assuming he's been brought up to speed?" he asked, indicating his father with a nod of his head.

"Yeah." Eric gave Jason a serious look, and Jason immediately knew it meant that Peter knew about Bill, but didn't necessarily know about Sookie and Eric.

"Well, good, then maybe that'll help this make more sense. I just got a call from Kevin." Kevin was a local boy, two years older than Jason. He'd surprised the entire town when he turned down a full athletic scholarship for cross country running from the University of Oregon. Instead, he'd attended a local community college, majoring in criminal justice, while attending the policy academy at the same time. He'd been working as a police officer for the past two years.

"He could get in a lot of trouble for telling me all this, but, since he knew that Sookie had been dating Bill, he figured we'd want to know. Bill was arrested a couple hours ago. Apparently, he was pissed off that Eric wouldn't let him see Sookie the other night, that he went back to his place, grabbed a couple of his friends that were there, and they took off and left town. Kevin didn't know where they went, but, it looks like they were headed back this evening, probably because Bill wanted to beat Jesse and Susan back.

"Anyway, they figure he was driving around 90 miles an hour, and the breathalyzer they gave him showed that his blood alcohol level was like 5 times the legal limit. He went off the side of the road and hit a lamp post. The girl who was sitting in the passenger seat wasn't buckled up, and she was thrown through the windshield. Witnesses say Bill got out of the car, went up to look at her for a couple of minutes, got back in the car, and tried to drive off. The cops got there while he was still trying to leave. The girl was dead."

"Do they know who she was?" Eric asked.

"It was Lorena," Jason answered.

Sookie gasped and put her hand over her mouth. Lorena had graduated from high school with Jason and Bill. She and Bill had dated off and on during their junior and senior years, finally ending their very hot and cold relationship when she moved to Seattle a month after graduation. She had been a spiteful, mean person, and Sookie had never liked her. But, she couldn't help but feel bad for what had happened to her.

"Was anyone else injured in the crash?" Peter asked.

"No. Bill and the other two passengers in the backseat were all wearing their seatbelts. They've got some minor cuts and scrapes and bruises, but, they're gonna be fine. Kevin said there was all kinds of drug paraphernalia all over the car, and that they were all going to have their blood tested to find out what else they were on besides just being drunk."

No one said anything for a couple of minutes, they were simply trying to let the information sink in. The silence seemed to drag itself out, and was full of tension. Sookie suddenly drew in a ragged breath, and began shaking. "That could've been me. If I hadn't gotten away from him that night, it could've been me in the car instead of Lorena."

Without thinking of anything but Sookie's comfort, Eric reached out and pulled her to him, wrapping her in his embrace. He held her flush against him, and stroked her back softly with his hand. "Shh, it's okay baby. It wasn't you, and that's all that matters." He bent his head down, and kissed the top of her head, until she lifted her own head up, and he kissed her softly on the lips. He raised one of his hands to cup her cheek, and they just looked at each other for a few moments.

The sound of Peter clearing his throat pulled them back to reality, and Sookie stepped away from Eric, but grabbed his hand in hers. "Um, yeah, I probably should've mentioned this before. Daddy, Eric and I are together, now."

"Yes, I think I figured that out on my own," he said in a flat tone, making it entirely impossible for Sookie to know how he felt about it.

"Well, it's been a long day, and I have a feeling we're going to have a lot to do tomorrow. Jason, Sookie, why don't you two go on up to bed," he said, looking at each of his children. "Eric, I'd like to speak to you for a moment if you don't mind."

Eric nodded, knowing he couldn't avoid it. He squeezed Sookie's hand and smiled at her. She smiled back, hugged her father, and she and Jason went inside to get ready for bed. Once they were out of hearing range, Peter began to speak.

"Eric, I'll make this quick and to the point. I was never thrilled to see Sookie with Bill. I knew she cared for you, and I'll admit that I even had hopes that you would return her affections. I don't need to tell you to treat her right, because I know that you have enough respect for her, and for me, to do nothing less. Just keep in mind what she's been through."

"Of course, Peter. I'm following her lead on this, and I won't ever push too hard, or pressure her to do or be anything she doesn't want."

"Alright then. Off to bed with ya," he said. Eric had just opened the door to the house, when Peter spoke again. "Oh, and Eric? You're both adults, and I can't stop you from doing anything, but, just remember that this is our house, and show us a little respect by keeping it rated PG while you're here, okay?"

Eric smiled, nodded, and went up to his bedroom. He changed into his lounge pants, after making sure the bathroom was unoccupied, went in to brush his teeth. When he went back into his bedroom, he was pleasantly surprised to see Sookie sitting cross-legged on his bed, wearing shorts and a tank top. He smiled at her, and shut the door behind him.

"Obviously, I can't stay in here with you tonight, but, I wanted to come tell you goodnight, anyway," Sookie said with a sad smile. "I guess that when I was thinking how great it was to sleep in your arms the past few nights, it didn't occur to me how bad it would feel when we couldn't do that, anymore."

"I know, Sook, I know. I feel the same. I wish I could hold you all night."

She stood, walked over to him, and wrapped her arms around his neck, while he put his around her waist and held her close. They stayed like that for a short while, until Sookie pulled away slightly, tilting her head up to his. He took her invitation, and kissed her fiercely, passionately. They finally broke apart, but kept their foreheads pressed together as they each tried to catch their breath.

"I promise you, Sookie, I'll figure something out. I'll find a way for us to have some privacy."

"Good. Because, honestly, I'm not sure how long I can go without making love with you again," Sookie said, and Eric growled and kissed her again.

Eric knew if he didn't stop soon, he wouldn't be able to. So, he very reluctantly ended the kiss, and told her goodnight. Once she'd left and closed the door, he lay down in his bed, put his hands behind his head, and stared at the ceiling. He was both nervous and excited for what the future held for them.


	12. Chapter 12

When Sookie woke the next morning, she was both surprised and confused to see light coming in through her window. Normally, her internal clock woke her around 5am, when it was still dark outside. She sat up and stretched her muscles, then gasped and jumped to her feet when she looked at her clock. It was already 8am!

She hastily pulled on some clothes, ran to use the bathroom and brush her teeth, and practically flew down the stairs into the kitchen. She skidded to a halt at what she saw. The entire household was sitting at the dining table, deep in discussion. She'd expected them to be working by now.

As she walked into the room, everyone went silent, as if they didn't want her to hear what they'd been talking about; it made her feel very uneasy. She took a mug out of the cupboard and began to pour herself a cup of coffee, when she felt the wonderfully familiar sensation of Eric wrapping his arms around her abdomen, pulling her back into his chest. He kissed her cheek, mumbled "Good morning," and led her to the table to join the others.

Once they were seated, Sookie took a slow sip of her coffee, before raising her face to meet her parents' eyes. "Okay, what's up?"

It was Miranda who answered. "Susan was admitted to the hospital around 4am this morning." Sookie flinched, and nearly spilled coffee all over her hand, but luckily it just splashed onto the table. Miranda stood, and went to the sink to grab a wash cloth to clean up the mess while she continued to speak. "She's okay, Sookie, so just calm down. She was obviously upset when she found out about Bill being arrested, and Lorena's death. It seems that she was so distraught that she mixed up two of her medications, and spent the majority of the night throwing up. Jesse finally took her to the hospital, and they admitted her so they could give her some anti-nausea medication, and get an IV started because she was so dehydrated. She'll most likely get released tomorrow morning, if not this evening sometime."

Sookie nodded her head, and waited for her mother to continue. However, it was Peter who spoke next. "Jesse called from the hospital to let me know that he wouldn't be here today, and let us know that Susan was alright. He said he didn't want to leave her at the hospital alone at all, and he didn't want for Bill to hear about her being hospitalized from one of the guards at the jail. So, he asked if one of us would go and see him to tell him."

"Well then someone needs to go! " Sookie immediately responded. She was a little surprised that everyone looked so shocked at her words. By the look on her mother's face, she could tell that her father had filled his wife in on the details. She'd have to find out later exactly how much her mother knew. "I realize that we're under no obligation to do anything for Bill. But, we're not doing this for Bill. We're doing this for Jesse and Susan. We can't punish them for his sins."

Eric smiled at her, placed his hand on her knee and gently squeezed. He was impressed by her grace, and proud of her integrity.

"Okay, then, at this point, I think that we need to decide how much of what happened Friday night we tell Jesse and Susan," Jason commented.

"Oh, that's easy," Sookie answered. "None of it." They all gasped. "At this point, no good could come of that. He's already in trouble with the law because of what happened with Lorena. There's no way that I could press charges against him, because I waited too long to say anything, and there's no evidence. If we told his parents, all that would do is upset them more. It's honestly not worth it."

"Are you sure that's what you want to do, princess?" Peter asked.

"Positive, Daddy. I just wanna move on and forget it ever happened."

"Well alright then," Jason said. "So, who's gonna go see him?"

"I am," Sookie said, and then all hell broke loose.

Eric, Jason and Peter all jumped to their feet, and began talking at the same time, each one trying to impress upon Sookie why it was a horrible idea for her to be the one to go. Sookie and Miranda, however, sat silently, their eyes on each other, both of them instinctively aware of what the other was thinking. After a few charged moments of listening to the men squabble, Miranda cleared her throat, and held her hand up making a stop motion. The three men went silent immediately.

"She's right. Sookie has to be the one to go. She's the only person that Bill will actually listen to. If it were one of the three of you, the entire conversation would just be one big confrontation. He'd spend the entire time being defensive."

Jason and Peter both nodded reluctantly and sat back down. Eric, however, was not ready to give up just yet. He dropped to a knee next to Sookie's chair, and took her hands in his. "I really don't think this is a good idea, Sook. Not after what he tried to pull."

She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Eric, I'm going to be visiting him **in jail**. The worse he can do is make faces at me through the plate glass window!" Jason chuckled, until Eric shot him a heated glare, which shut him up. Sookie lifted one hand and placed it on his cheek, bringing his attention back to her. "I really need to do this. I need to know that I was able to stand up to him. I'll be fine, I promise."

They sat motionless, looking into each other's eyes for a brief, yet charged, moment. Finally, Eric nodded, and stood. Just as he was beginning to open his mouth to offer to drive her, Miranda spoke again. "I've got to go into town to the grocery store anyway, so, I'll give you a ride. If you're feeling up to it, on the way back, maybe we'll stop and see Susan in the hospital."

Sookie took that as her cue, and quickly went upstairs to dress for the day. As she brushed her teeth and hair, she mulled over what to wear. She wanted to look good, so as to remind him what he'd lost. But, she didn't want him to think that she'd taken the time to look good **for** him. She finally settled on a pair of denim shorts, and a pale yellow tank top with an open white button-front shirt over the top.

She went downstairs and found her mother making a shopping list in the kitchen. "Well, Mama, I'm ready whenever you are."

"Alright, I'll just be another minute. While I'm finishing up with my list, why don't you go tell Daddy, Jason and Eric goodbye." Sookie obeyed her mother and went outside, quickly jogging to where the men were at. Peter wrapped an arm around her shoulder the moment she reached them.

"You be strong now, Princess. I know you can do this." He kissed her on the forehead, and turned to resume his work. Jason simply turned to her, smiled and winked, and said, "Give him hell, sis!"

When she turned her eyes to meet Eric's, she felt the familiar butterfly feeling in her stomach, and she couldn't help but smile. Even after all the intimacies they had shared over the past few days, something as simple as eye contact with him made her weak in the knees. "Come on," he said, taking her hand and twining their fingers together, "I'll walk you to the car."

Neither said anything as they walked, they were simply content to be with one another. Sookie could tell by the expression on Eric's face that something was bothering him, and she wondered if she was missing something. Once they reached Miranda's car, Eric leaned his back against it, wrapped his arms around Sookie, and held her close.

"Eric, is there something bothering you? I mean, besides the obvious."

"It's nothing, Sook. Don't worry about it. You need to focus on what you're going to say to Bill."

She pulled back slightly and looked up at him. "Well, regardless of whether or not you think it's nothing, now that I know something's bugging you, I won't be able to focus. You'd better just tell me what it is. I'd hate to have thoughts of you put me off my game while I was with Bill."

He chuckled and shook his head. Sookie always did know how to put someone on a guilt trip. "I'm just struggling with my own guilt."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Susan's in the hospital, Lorena's dead, and you've basically been to hell and back. But, I'm glad it all happened. If none of this had gone down, who knows how long it would've taken us to be together."

Sookie nodded sadly. "I feel the same way. I'm glad that Bill's true character was brought out before things went any further than they did. But, I hate that so many people are suffering because of it." She laid her head back on his chest again. "And, for the record, no matter how long it might have taken us to be together, it would've been worth the wait." She felt his chest rumble as he quietly laughed.

Miranda came bustling out of the house a moment later, and began to get into the car. Eric put his hand under Sookie's chin, tilting her face up to his, and placed a chaste kiss to her mouth, before releasing her from his arms. He opened her car door for her, and once she was in, shut it, waved, and went back to work with Peter and Jason.

On the drive to the county jail, neither Miranda nor Sookie spoke a single word. Miranda could tell that Sookie was nervous, and decided to let her collect her thoughts. She pulled into the parking lot, and cut the engine. "Well, do you want me to stay here and wait for you, or should I go to the store while you're speaking with Bill?"

Sookie contemplated that for a moment, and then said, "Go ahead and go shopping. I'm not sure how long this is going to take, and I'd hate for you to be sitting out here with nothing to do."

Miranda nodded and smiled, although she was nervous about leaving Sookie alone. "Well, when I'm done, I'll just come back and wait in the car. When you're done with your visit, if I'm not here, call my cell phone, alright?" Sookie nodded, and began to open the door, but Miranda reached out and grabbed her hand, stopping her. "I love you, honey," she said softly.

Sookie grinned and patted her mother's hand. "Love you too, Mama."

She stood on the sidewalk in front of the building and watched as her mother drove away. Once she could no longer see the car, she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and entered through the doors marked 'Visiting.' She walked to a reception desk, where a uniformed officer asked her all sorts of questions about who she was visiting, and how she knew the inmate. After having a photocopy of her ID taken, she was led through a metal detector, and then escorted down a long hallway.

The officer led her into a small room which looked exactly like the jail visiting areas in all of the movies Sookie had ever seen. There was a long wooden shelf attached to a wall, with small partitions separating it into five different areas, each with a phone attached. The wall above the table was made of thick glass, and she could see that the opposite side of the glass was the exact same as the side she was on. The officer motioned for her to have a seat, and told her that Mr. Compton would be brought over in a moment.

She sat down and twisted her fingers together, trying to keep her nerves from getting the best of her. She heard a loud 'click,' and looked up to see Bill being led in by another officer. He was wearing a dark navy blue jumpsuit, and the color of it only emphasized the many bruises and cuts that covered his forearms and face. Bill sat down at the chair opposite Sookie with a confused look on his face. They each lifted the telephone next to them, and heard a short recording saying that all conversations were monitored and recorded, and anything they said could be admissible in court. Once the recording ended, they heard another click, and each could hear the other breathing.

"Why are you here?" Bill asked. "I'm only allowed one visitor every day, and if you're here, that means I won't get to see my family."

"I'm actually here because your family **asked** me to come." Bill looked skeptical about that. "Well, not me specifically, just anyone in my family. I'm going to explain to you why that is, but, I'm going to ask that you let me speak and not interrupt me, alright?" She waited until he nodded to continue. "Your parents couldn't come today because your mother was admitted to the hospital early this morning." Bill's eyes opened wider, and he opened his mouth to speak, but Sookie held up a hand, motioning for him to stop. "She's fine. She was obviously very upset when she heard about your accident and your arrest, and she accidentally mixed up a couple of her meds. She was throwing up a lot, so your dad took her to the ER for some anti-nausea medication, and to get an IV going to rehydrate her. She's going to be released either later today or tomorrow."

She gave him a moment to let that sink in before she continued. "Do you know why I left your house without saying goodbye that night, Bill?" He raised one eyebrow, and shook his head. "I saw you and that other boy in the kitchen. I heard what you said, and I saw what you did." She was being very careful not to say too much, knowing that this conversation was not a private one. "I don't want anything to do with you ever again, Bill Compton."

"Then why are you here, Sookie? Either one of your parents, or your brother could've come."

"I came because I needed for you to see that I wasn't going to sit in some corner and hide. I wanted you to see that you did not break me. I wanted you to see that I'm the stronger of the two of us. Jason, Eric, and Mama and Daddy know everything, Bill. But, that's as far as it will go. I won't talk to the police about it, and I certainly won't be telling your family. What's going on right now is already hard enough for your mother. I don't want for her to be hurt anymore."

"So you're really with Eric now, then?"

"Yes, I am."

"Well, I guess there's nothing left to say." Sookie began to hang the phone up, but Bill waved his hand, prompting her to listen to him once again. "Thank you for telling me about my mother."

"I didn't do it for you, Bill. I did it for her. Oh, and, you'll need to find a new job once you get released. You're no longer welcome on our property." She hung the phone up, stood, and left the room. Once she was out the door and back in the hallway, she found that the officer was there waiting for her, and he escorted her back out of the building.

Miranda was waiting in the parking lot when she came back out. Sookie got into the car, gave her mother a smile, and simply said, "That was sort of empowering." Miranda chuckled, and pulled the car back onto the road.

Sookie was surprised when they pulled up to a medical office rather than the hospital. "Mama, what are we doing here? I thought we were going to go see Susan?"

"Well, I spoke with Jesse on the phone while you were with Bill. All of the drugs have made Susan very tired, and she really isn't feeling well enough for company."

"Okay, but, why are we here, then?"

"Because you have an appointment to see Dr. Ludwig."

Sookie's eyebrows shot up. She was completely shocked. Dr. Ludwig was the gynecologist Miranda had taken Sookie to see for a check-up once she'd turned 18. "Dr. Ludwig? Why? What's going on?"

"Sookie, you know that I love you very much, and trust you completely. But, knowing Eric as well as I do, I decided that if the two of you are going to be dating, you need to be taking some birth control pills." Sookie felt her entire face become hot as she blushed. "Oh, don't be ashamed, sweetheart. You're 18 years old. You have a wonderful boyfriend who you care for, and who cares for you. There's nothing wrong with the two of you being intimate."

Sookie covered her face with her hands. "Mama, can we PLEASE not talk about this? It's sort of embarrassing."

"Alright, you don't have to talk to me about it. But, you ARE going to see the doctor, and you ARE going to get a prescription for birth control."

By the time they arrived back home late that afternoon, Sookie felt like she wanted to find a rock, crawl under it, and stay there for about a week. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been in so many different awkward positions in one day! Almost as soon as she'd entered the house, Eric came in through the back door, and pulled her into his arms.

"How'd it go?" He asked.

She gave him a look that had him laughing out loud, before taking his hand in hers and leading him up to his bedroom. She locked the door behind them, and they sat down on the bed together. She told him everything about seeing Bill, and her mother's surprise appointment for her. Eric laughed out loud when she was finished, and she smacked his arm.

"I'm sorry, baby, but you've gotta admit, it's pretty funny."

"Sure, for YOU. You're not the one who had to endure it all!"

"True, but, I DID get to be the one to tell Tara about us."

It was Sookie's turn to laugh. "Oh, really? And..?"

"Well, I believe her exact words were, 'well, fuck a duck, it's about damn time!'"

Sookie laughed, and felt herself finally relax for the first time since she'd woken up. They joked around together for a few more minutes, before Sookie went back downstairs to help her mother prepare supper. She found herself rehashing her conversation with Bill once more for both her father and Jason, and they both beamed with pride at how she had handled herself.

As the days passed, life seemed to settle back down. Things were a little awkward with Jesse and Susan the first time Sookie saw them, but, it didn't last long. No matter how she felt about Bill, she knew she'd always adore his parents. One evening when both Jesse and Susan joined them for dinner, Jesse let them all know what was happening with Bill's case. Although the police had recovered drug paraphernalia from the accident scene, Bill's blood test showed that he had not taken any illegal substances. Because he had never been arrested before, his attorney was able to secure him a much shorter sentence that Sookie and Eric thought he deserved. He pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated, and was sentenced to 4 months in prison, with a two-year probation period to follow, during which time he would be required to attend rehab.

Tara gave Sookie a hard time for a few days, saying it wasn't fair that Sookie hadn't called her right away to tell her about her new relationship with Eric. But, after seeing how different Sookie was now, she couldn't help but be ecstatically happy for her two friends. Dating Eric had done something wonderful for Sookie's self-confidence. She smiled more, and carried herself as if she'd finally realized her own value.

She'd always been the type to shun any form of public affection. But, with Eric, she actually encouraged it. She still knew to draw a line at what was inappropriate, but, she never hesitated to hold his hand, or hug him while they were with others.

They joked together that their sex life had taken on a life of its own. They knew that Sookie's birth control pills wouldn't really be effective for a while, so, they continued to use condoms. Eric had begun having one with him at all times, because they were never sure when or where they would find time to be together. They became very well acquainted with the bed of Mike's truck, the woods around the lake on the outskirts of town, and the guest room in the pool house at Tara's home.

As summer was drawing to an end, they tried to spend every waking moment together, knowing that they would soon be parted for a while. Sookie would be staying at the ranch until she started school in January, however, Eric would be returning to Texas at the beginning of September. On their final weekend together, Eric surprised her by booking a private cabin for them at a nearby mountain resort.

Sookie read a brochure about the resort during the two hours it took them to drive there. It had a pool, spa, and two restaurants, among other things. One of the restaurants was casual with a laidback atmosphere, whereas the other was a little more upscale, offering live music and dancing in the evening. Sookie was excited to try everything, and Eric could only smile at her enthusiasm.

Sookie silently looked around the lobby in awe as Eric checked them in, and then they followed as a bellboy led them to their cabin. The boy put their luggage down, and left after Eric handed him a tip. The moment the door closed behind him, Sookie flew into action, rushing around the room checking everything out.

"I can't believe it, this place is absolutely amazing, Eric!" She pulled open the front doors of an armoire, revealing the very large plasma television encased within. She laughed giddily, and closed it once again, moving on to look in the bathroom. There was a shower big enough to fit three people, but she was surprised not to see a bathtub. She slowly left the bathroom with a confused look on her face, until she saw Eric motion with his head towards another side of the room. There, close to the bed, was a large Jacuzzi tub. "Oh my gosh, there's a hot tub, too!"

Eric couldn't hold it in any longer, and laughed loudly at her. She walked over to him, and wrapped her arms around his waist. "This is all so wonderful. Thank you so much for bringing me here."

She felt his arms wrap around her, and his hand softly stroked her back. "Only the best for you, lover."

She pulled back slightly to look at his face, and frowned at him. "Oh, now you're just saying that so you can get in my pants."

He raised one eyebrow and smirked. "Is it working?"

"Well, you should know by now that with me, flattery will get you **everywhere**."

They laughed together, and he bent his head to kiss her. Just as their lips were about to meet, her stomach growled loudly. He pressed his forehead to hers, chuckled, and said, "Hungry?"

"Apparently."

"Well, then I guess I'd better feed you. You're going to need your energy tonight, trust me."

"Is that a promise or a threat?" she asked him.

"Both," he said, his voice low and husky.

They decided that neither of them were in the mood to go to one of the restaurants, so, they grabbed the room service menu instead. There was a long list of meals that were intended for two, and after looking over it for a few minutes, Eric called and ordered them spaghetti with meatballs, garlic bread, and a couple of sodas.

Sookie called her parents to let them know they had arrived alright, and then called Tara to brag about how wonderful the resort was. She ended the call about 20 minutes later when their food arrived. They sat at the small dining table and ate, while talking about the classes Eric was planning on taking during the coming semester. Whenever he talked about the school they would both be attending, Sookie felt herself get more and more excited. She'd never been away from home for more than a few weeks at a time, and she thought of college as an adventure. She was also thrilled at the prospect of more alone time with Eric.

Once they'd finished eating, Eric stacked the dishes on the room service tray, paged housekeeping to let them know they could pick it up at anytime, and left it on the front porch of the cabin. He heard running water, and smiled, knowing that Sookie was filling the Jacuzzi tub up.

When he walked back into the bedroom, he was surprised to see that Sookie had put a bikini on. "Why'd you put that on?" he asked.

"You don't actually think I'm going to let you see me naked this early in the evening, do you? Besides, taking each other's clothes off is half the fun!"

He laughed at her before quickly changed into his own suit and climbed into the tub with her. As soon as he was settled, she moved over and placed herself between his legs, her back to his chest. He wrapped his arms around her abdomen, and sighed as he placed a kiss on her shoulder.

"Mmm, I wish we could just stay like this forever," she said.

"I know baby, me too. But, just remember, I'll only be gone for three months, and then I'll be home for Thanksgiving. After that, when I go back, it'll only be for three more weeks 'til Christmas break. After that's over, you'll be going with me!"

"I know. It's really not that long of a time, but, I'm not looking forward to it anyway."

"Well, just use the time wisely. We still need to figure out how to convince your parents that it would be best if we just got an apartment together when you move down."

"Yeah, I'm a little worried about that. But, Jason has already agreed to help persuade them, so, that'll help."

"Having Jason on our side is definitely going to make a big difference." He tightened his hold on her and nuzzled his nose into her hair. "Ya know, if you keep yourself busy, the time will pass faster."

She chuckled a little. "Oh, I know that. Without you, Jason, and Bill around to help out, I'm sure Daddy will keep me occupied. That's not the part I'm worried about."

"Well, then, what **does** have you worried?"

She pulled his arms away from her body, and turned around so she was sitting on his lap with her legs straddling his. "Well, you see, I have this wonderful, sexy boyfriend who has taught me all about great sex. I'm just not sure how I'm going to survive without it for the next three months!"

He laughed. "Well, I guess that you will just have to take matters into your own hands, won't you?" He became confused, however, when he felt her body tense up and she began to pull away. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I just don't want to talk about that kinda stuff."

"Why, there's nothing wrong with it. It's completely natural. Everyone does it, and if they say they don't, they're lying," he said while smiling, trying to cheer her up. Her frown grew deeper, and his eyes suddenly widened in comprehension. "Holy shit! You've never given yourself an orgasm, have you?"

She blushed slightly, and said, "Eric, you have personally been present at and responsible for every orgasm I have ever experienced."

"Sookie, as flattering as that is, that's something we're going to have to change."

She let out an angry sigh, stood up, grabbed a towel, and climbed out of the tub. "I'm not talking to you about this, Eric."

He unplugged the drain to let the water out, grabbed a towel of his own, and followed her. "Why not? Sook, like I said, everyone does it. It's not something to be ashamed of."

"It has nothing to do with shame, Eric," she said as she began digging through her suitcase, looking desperately for her pajamas.

"Then tell me what it **does** have to do with, Sookie." He saw her shoulders slump slightly, and knew she was ready to be straight with him on the subject. However, when she spoke again, she did it so softly that he couldn't understand her. "What? I can't hear you."

She turned and threw the tank top she was holding at him, hitting him squarely in the chest. "I said I don't know how, okay!" He was unable to hold back his laughter. She felt the sting of tears behind her eyes, and turned her back on him and said, "Please don't laugh at me."

Her words sobered him as nothing else could have. He went to her and put his arms around her. "Sookie, I'm not laughing at you, I promise."

"Then what's so funny?"

"Baby, you're making this harder than it has to be. There's no right or wrong way to do this. You just need to do what feels good."

"But that's your job," she said matter-of-factly.

"This is true. But, what about when I'm gone for three months? What are you going to do then? I never thought I'd think of your insatiable appetite as a bad thing, but, baby, it's gonna be hard. You get cranky if we have to go five days without sex!" She finally cracked a smile, and he felt the tension leave the room.

After a moment, she led him to the bed, and put just the right amount of pressure on his chest to cause him to sit down. She stepped close to him, standing between his legs, and bent down and kissed him. The kiss started slow and soft, but over time became deeper and more desperate.

"Teach me?" She asked.

"Seriously?"

"Please, baby. Teach me how to give myself pleasure."

He was amazed at how turned on he'd become at her words. He reached behind her to untie her bikini, and then pushed her bottoms down her hips and onto the floor, leaving her standing before him completely naked. He stood and slipped his own suit off, then picked her up bridal style and settled her in the middle of the bed, kissing her gently. After a moment, he moved his lips down her jaw line, to her neck.

"Close your eyes," he said, and waited until she complied. "First, you need to think about something that will arouse you. Personally, I would prefer it if you would think of me, but, that's up to you," he felt her body move slightly as she silently laughed.

"Okay, sufficiently aroused. What next?"

He reached down and took her hand in his, and guided it upwards. He placed it palm open on her breast, and gently curled her fingers, guiding in the motions of massaging, putting the smallest amount of pressure on her hard nipple. She was unable to suppress a small moan. He continued to massage her breast with her own hand until her body became restless.

He took her other hand and guided it down her stomach, slowly moving it to her center. Using her index finger, he parted her folds. "Feel how wet you are, baby? That means you're enjoying it. Remember how this feels." He left his hand on hers, but took the pressure off, allowing her to freely move it wherever she wanted. He smiled as he watched her slowly begin to rub circles over her clit, as the other hand drifted down, and she slipped two fingers inside herself.

He gently moved away from her and just watched. Her moans were steadily getting louder and her body was beginning to writhe. He could tell by the sound of her moans that she was getting close, and he whispered, "That's it baby, make yourself come for me." Her hips bucked off the bed, and she bit down hard on her lip, trying to keep from screaming. He remained silent, waiting for her to come back down to Earth.

When she finally opened her eyes and looked at him, she had a very sexy smile on her face. "That was the single most beautiful, erotic thing I've ever witnessed," he said. Before she had time to react, he pounced. His lips were moving on hers, and she could feel the urgency and need in him.

"Ugh, fuck," he said, and stood. He quickly made his way to his suitcase and began digging around in it. Sookie smiled and bit her lip to keep from laughing. He apparently wasn't finding what he was looking for, and began throwing things to the ground.

"If you're looking for the condoms, Eric, I took them out and left them at home."

He turned and looked at her with eyes wide. "Why the hell would you do that?"

"It's been a month, baby. We don't need them anymore." She saw comprehension dawn on his features, and then just as quickly as he left, he was back on top of her again. She wrapped her legs around him, reaching down to place him at her entrance. He pushed into her, and shut his eyes and groaned at the sensation.

Neither of them said anything else, well, not coherently at least. He rode her hard and fast. Knowing he wouldn't last long, he reached with his hand and pressed down hard on her clit with his thumb. He felt her walls clamp down on him moments before he spilled himself into her, before collapsing next to her. It wasn't long before they both fell into the deep sleep of pure exhaustion.


	13. Chapter 13

Eric blinked a few times, and rubbed his hands over his eyes, willing them to focus. He'd been staring non-stop at his laptop for several hours, and his body was seriously protesting. He was in desperate need of a break. His cell phone started dancing along the desk in front of him, so he picked it up to check the caller id.

He smiled brightly. "Well hello there, gorgeous," he said.

"Hi, baby," answered Sookie's familiar voice. "What ya up to?"

"Oh, I'm just working on my paper for my journalism class. It's due the last day before the Thanksgiving break."

"Which, by the way, is only 10 days away," Sookie said with excitement in her voice.

"I know. You excited?"

"Of course I'm excited, Eric. First off, you know that Thanksgiving is one of my most favorite holidays, because I **love** helping Mama fix all that wonderful food! Not to mention that it means that my charming, handsome, sexy boyfriend will be home from Texas for a few days."

"Well, too bad it's only for a few days. I miss you, Sook."

"I miss you too, baby," she said softly.

"Oh do you, now? And what part do you miss the most?"

"Oh, your butt."

"My…butt?" He sounded a little confused, and Sookie fought the urge to laugh out loud.

"Yup."

"I guess I don't really know what to say to that."

"Well, you could ask me **why** your butt is what I miss most," he finally cottoned on to the fact that she was teasing him.

"Do tell, lover."

"Two reasons. First off, if there was ever an international butt competition, you'd win hands down. Or, should I say, cheeks up?" He laughed at her creativity.

"And the second reason?"

"Because it's what I get to hold on to when you're inside me," she whispered. Her voice had taken on a husky tone, and Eric closed his eyes and sucked in a deep breath.

"And, I don't mind saying that, being inside you is the best feeling in the world."

"I know I thoroughly enjoy it."

Eric felt himself harden as he remembered the last time they'd made love. It had been the last thing they did before checking out of their cabin at the mountain resort they'd spent their final weekend together at. He couldn't remember a time when he'd gone this long without some sort of sexual contact. But, he knew that Sookie was worth waiting for.

"Will you do me a favor and touch yourself for me, baby," he asked, hoping to be able to at least get himself off while listening to her moan.

"Eric, I'd love to, but I can't," she answered, sadness in her voice.

"Why? What's up?"

"Alcide is staying in your room." Alcide was a year older than Jason, and had played football with him in high school. Peter had hired him to help out on the ranch, since he was so short-handed these days. Eric had never gotten the chance to get to know him very well, but, he seemed like a nice enough guy. Sookie had told Eric that Alcide confided in her that he absolutely hated Bill Compton, which only made Eric like him even more.

"Oh. Um, why's he staying there?"

"He's been renting out one half of a duplex near town, and the person living in the other side got bitten by a brown recluse spider and had to have her baby toe amputated! So, the place is being fumigated. Daddy is letting him stay here 'til it's safe for him to go back home."

"Wow. That's kinda spooky."

"I know. I was already afraid of spiders, and now whenever I see one I totally freak out! Alcide thinks it's really funny, but I've been too scared to kill them myself, so, Mike and Daddy always have to come running whenever I see one."

Eric laughed. "I remember when we were kids, Jas and I took you and Tara to the drive-in to see 'Arachnophobia,' and you had nightmares for like, what, two months?!?"

"Hey, it wasn't funny! Every time I turned around Jason or Bill were throwing fake plastic spiders at me!" They both seemed to sober a bit at the mention of Bill's name. "He's been given a release date," Sookie said softly.

"When?"

"December 3rd. He's supposed to check-in at some rehab treatment facility in Denver on the 5th."

"Promise me you'll stay far away from his place during those few days, Sookie. And don't be anywhere alone. Have Mike, Alcide, or even your Dad with you at all times. I still don't trust the son of a bitch." Eric's request came out a bit like a growl, so it sounded more like a demand, but Sookie didn't mind. She knew he was only concerned for her safety.

"I promise, Eric. I do feel bad for Susan, though. Christmas is going to be very hard for her without Bill there."

"I know. I don't want him anywhere near you, and I'm definitely glad that he's going to be paying for his crime, but, I hate that she's paying for it, too."

"Mama and Daddy have been talking about having them over for Christmas dinner. We invited them to come for Thanksgiving, but, they're going to Jesse's sister's place." She yawned loudly.

"Sounds like it's time for you to be going to sleep, little on," Eric said, feeling exhausted himself.

"Yeah, I am pretty tired. I think that the extra work from being short staffed has really started to take its toll on me."

"Well, get some sleep, then. I'll call you tomorrow, alright?"

"Okay. G'night, Eric."

"Night my beautiful Sookie," he said, and hung up.

Sookie placed her cell phone on her nightstand, and leaned over to switch off her bedside lamp. As she shifted around to get comfortable, she thought about how things with Eric had changed. When they were just friends, they would always end their phone conversations with words of love. But, all of that had stopped when they became lovers. She knew she still loved him, and that he loved her. But, somehow, it just didn't feel right saying it now, because, she wanted to wait until she was truly **in** love with him. She was definitely on her way there, no doubt about that.

**Ten days later, Denver**

Sookie stood in the baggage claim area at the airport, her foot anxiously tapping on the floor. She had checked the arrivals monitor, and knew that Eric's flight had been on the ground for about ten minutes. As it was the day before Thanksgiving, the airport was packed, but, she knew she'd be able to spot him because of his height.

Sure enough, a couple of moments later she saw him looking around frantically trying to find her. She felt her heart swell the moment his eyes met hers, and he began trying to push past everyone in between them. When he was finally able to make it into a pocket of empty space, he picked up the pace and jogged until he reached her. She squealed with delight as he wrapped his arms around her and picked her up. Her legs immediately went around his waist, and she clung to his neck as if her life depended on it. And in that moment, she was sure it did.

After another moment passed, he rested his forehead against hers, allowing himself to simply drink in her presence. He felt her hand cup his cheek, and smiled before laying his lips to hers. The kiss was soft, but not at all lacking in passion.

"Hey," she said smiling as he put her feet back on the floor.

"Hey, yourself," he said as he bent and picked up the duffle bag he'd dropped when he'd reached her.

"Is that everything?" she asked, indicating the bag he now slung over his shoulder.

"Yup. I'm all set." He took her hand in his, twining their fingers together. He couldn't help but smile when he felt her squeeze his fingers a bit.

"Let's get out of here, then," she said, and handed him the spare truck keys.

She led him into the parking structure where she had parked her father's truck, and she crawled in through the passenger door while Eric put his bag behind the seat. He sat behind the wheel, and Sookie slid over until she was pressed firmly to his side, and he rested his hand high up on her thigh. Traffic at the airport was heavy, so neither of them spoke again until they'd successfully maneuvered their way onto the interstate.

"So, I have a surprise for you," Sookie finally said, allowing her left hand to run through the hair at the nape of his neck.

"Really? I do love surprises," he said and waggled his eyebrows at her.

She laughed, and continued to speak. "There's still a few problems at Alcide's place, so, he's been staying with us this whole time, in your room. Mama and Daddy were trying to figure out where to put you while you're here, and they were kind of leaning towards having you just sleep on the pull-out in the living room." She paused and giggled a little at the unhappy look on his face. "**However**, as it turns out, Amelia's plans changed, and so now she's going to be here as well. She was supposed to go to her dad's place in New Orleans, but I guess they had some big argument, so Jas just invited her to stay with us. And since the change was so last minute, Mama didn't have much choice other than to let Amelia stay in Jason's room with him."

Eric was stunned. It was very out of character for Miranda and Peter to allow for something like that in their own home. "Wow, I didn't see that coming."

"Oh, it gets even better," Sookie said, her smile getting even larger. "Since Amelia is staying in Jason's room, I told Mama that it wouldn't be fair of her to make you sleep on the couch, and I actually got her to agree to letting you stay in my room with me!" She clapped her hands together and bounced a little in her seat with excitement.

"Well, hell! This holiday just keeps getting better and better," he said, and leaned over slightly to kiss her before returning his full attention to the road. They didn't say much for the rest of the drive to the ranch, but the silence wasn't at all uncomfortable. They were simply happy to be with one another again.

Since Miranda was going to be busy preparing their Thanksgiving feast, she called Sookie's cell phone and asked that they stop and pick up a few pizzas on their way home, and they ran into Tara as they were getting back into the truck. Eric gave Tara a hug, and shook hands with her new boyfriend, JB, whom he'd met in passing once before.

When they finally arrived at the ranch, Peter helped Sookie carry the food into the kitchen while Eric put his duffle bag in Sookie's bedroom. He smiled to himself as he looked at her bed, knowing that in a few short hours, he'd be able to hold her in his arms while they slept. He heard footsteps behind him, and felt Sookie wrap her arms around his waist and press her cheek to his back. He put his arms over hers, and turned his head slightly to see her face.

"Come on, let's go get eat before the pizza gets cold. I can't be in here alone with you for long without having my way with you," Sookie said.

They walked downstairs together, and joined everyone else who was already putting slices of pizza and garlic bread on their plates. As they ate, they were able to keep the conversation light, with Alcide asking plenty of questions to get to know both Eric and Amelia a bit better.

As they were just finishing up with their meal, Amelia turned to Sookie and said, "So, Sookie, only a few more weeks until you're off to Texas for school! Have you figured out where you're going to live, yet?"

Sookie had to quickly swallow so she wouldn't spit diet coke out all over her father, and she coughed a bit. She and Amelia had been emailing back and forth since they met that past summer, and had become friends. Amelia was **very** aware of the fact that they were going to try and convince her parents to allow Sookie to live with Eric while in Texas.

"Actually, that's something I wanted to discuss with Peter and Miranda," Eric said while Sookie tried to recover. Once he was sure he had their full attention, he began again. "You know I've been sharing an apartment with two guys I went to high school with, Joseph and Stan. Well, Joseph told us recently that he's decided to transfer after this semester, so, he won't be going back to Texas after Christmas.

"Stan and his girlfriend, Isabelle, got engaged over the summer, and they've been looking for a new place to live. They found a really nice condo not far from campus, and they've been approved for a loan to buy it. Isabelle is going to be doing her student teaching next semester, so, she won't be able to work anymore, so money's going to be pretty tight for them. I can't afford to keep my apartment by myself, so, they asked me if I'd like to stay at their condo with them, and pay them a small amount in rent to help them cover their monthly payments. Isabelle thought that maybe Sookie could move in with the rest of us."

He felt Sookie place her hand on his knee as they silently watched her parents. They had turned to one another, and it almost looked as if they were having a completely silent conversation. After a moment of charged silence, Peter said, "Well, I'll admit that it would ease my mind a little, knowing that Sookie had roommates that we know we can trust." He looked at his wife once again. "How soon do you need a definite answer, Eric?"

"Stan and Isabelle would like to know as soon as possible, but, I think that as long as we knew for sure before we left for Christmas break, that would work."

"Good, that gives us some time to discuss it and think about it," Miranda said, effectively closing the subject.

Eric and Sookie spent almost every waking moment together during the next three days, before Eric had to return to Texas. They made love as often as they could, and Alcide joked that they rivaled Jason and Amelia when it came to "sack time," as he called it. He had recently broken up with his longtime girlfriend, Debi, and Jason teased him, saying he was just jealous because he was the only one who wasn't getting laid.

Sunday morning came round, and Sookie was trying her best not to mope. Jason and Amelia were going to be driving back to school, so, Eric was going to get a ride to the airport with them. He loaded his bag into Jason's truck, and went back to Sookie's room to tell her goodbye. She already had tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Sookie, baby, please don't cry. You know I can't handle seeing you cry," he told her as he brushed away her tears with his fingertips.

"I know, and I'm sorry. I just can't help it. You just got here, and now you're leaving, again," she said in between sniffles.

"I know, lover, I know. But, remember, I'm only going to be gone for a couple more weeks, then I'll be back for Christmas, and then you'll be going to Texas with me."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. But honestly, that doesn't make you leaving now any easier."

"Well, how's this then? I need for you to promise me you'll be okay, because if I worry about you, it will just be a massive distraction, and I'll fail my finals," he grinned as he spoke.

She smacked his shoulder and said, "Hey now, no guilt trips, that's not fair. You can't say that if you fail your finals it's my fault simply because I miss my boyfriend."

He kissed the tip of her nose. "I'll miss you, too, ya know."

"I know. God, I hate this, Eric."

"I do, too, Sook. But, it is what it is, and there's nothing we can do right now to change that. All we can do is just press forward until we're together again."

She nodded her head in agreement, and he tightened his arms around her waist and kissed her fiercely, passionately. They broke apart when they heard Jason's horn honking outside. Eric quickly kissed her again, and then he was gone.

The first few days were the hardest for Sookie. But, eventually, she settled back into the routine of work, and time began to pass as it always had. Her father kept both Sookie and Alcide very busy on the ranch, and during the evenings, Sookie would spend time with Tara, or go shopping with her mother to prepare for Christmas. She spoke to Eric on the phone a few times a day, but, as he got close to his finals, it tapered off to just once a day.

She kept her promise and didn't leave home during the three days that Bill would've been around. Tara told her that she'd seen him leaving the post office one day with his mother, and that he'd looked horrible. Tara said that he'd lost a fair amount of weight, and that his skin looked dull and lifeless. Sookie couldn't bring herself to have any sympathy for him, but, she did feel bad that his mother had been forced to see him like that.

Bill had checked-in to a rehab facility on December 5th, as ordered by the court, so beginning on the 6th, Sookie and Miranda spent quite a bit of time with Susan. She was sinking into a state of depression that simply made Sookie's heart ache. This kind woman deserved better than to have her heart broken by her only child. One of the hardest parts was knowing that Bill would do anything to take his mother's pain away. Too bad he hadn't thought of that before he'd actually caused it.

A few days before Eric was due to return from Texas, Alcide was finally given the okay to go back to his apartment. Sookie helped him move his personal things back, and helped him get a few Christmas decorations up so it felt homier. She'd noticed a black car with darkly tinted windows parked down the block, and remembered seeing it other times she'd been out running errands with Alcide. When she mentioned it to him, he told her that it was Debi's car. He said that they'd broken up and reconciled multiple times, and each time they were apart, he caught her watching him. He seemed to not think much of it, so, she let it go as well.

Before she knew it, Eric and Jason were back at the ranch. Eric was staying in his old room again; however, neither of them really let it bother them. Sure, they weren't sleeping in the same bed together every night, but, that didn't mean they couldn't be happy. They were able to do lots of Christmas shopping, and even went snowmobiling together one day.

Peter and Miranda couldn't deny how happy Sookie was when she was with Eric. It was almost as if she was a whole new person. They'd never seen her so confident, so comfortable with whom she was. So, the evening of Christmas Eve, they sat Eric and Sookie down, and told them that they'd decided that it would be alright for her to live with Eric when they went back to Texas.

Because Stan and Isabelle had purchased the condo they'd be living in, they knew they were going to need to move quite a few more items from their parent's home to Texas. So, a week before classes were scheduled to begin, Sookie and Eric picked Stan up, and they pulled a U-Haul trailer to Phoenix to pick up Isabelle, and all drove to Texas together.

Sookie and Isabelle became fast friends, and it helped a great deal. This was Sookie's first time living away from her family, and it was exciting, but very overwhelming. Isabelle and Eric did everything they could to help her adjust, and things were going wonderfully. Isabelle introduced Sookie to a few of her other female friends, and as much as she was grateful for them, she still missed Tara.

Eric came home from class one day to find Pam's car parked in their driveway. He instantly became nervous, because he hadn't seen her since they'd broken up. He'd wanted to talk to her, to apologize for the way he'd treated her when they were dating. But, she'd refused to see him. Knowing that she was in his home with Sookie had him very worried.

As it turned out, his worries were for nothing. From almost the first moment that they met, Pam adored Sookie. So, it was Sookie who was finally able to get her to agree to at least speak with Eric. Pam told Eric that she didn't really think she'd ever completely forgive him for what happened, but, that she didn't let it affect her anymore, either. She told Eric that she'd met someone, and she didn't think it would've happened if things between the two of them had been any different. Eric was taken aback when Pam introduced them to her new lover, Felicia. Stan teased him, saying that he'd turned her gay, but, it was all in good fun.

Not that their life together in Texas was perfect. They had their fair share of fights. But because they'd known each other for so long, it was always easy for them to see a situation from the other's perspective. They didn't always agree, but they promised each other that they would respect each other's opinion, and they stuck to that promise. Plus, it allowed Sookie to realize just how wonderful make-up sex could be.

As the semester drew to a close, Eric and Sookie began preparing to go back to the ranch for a good portion of the summer. Sookie was excited to see her family, because she'd missed them a great deal. Mike picked them up at the airport in Denver, and as they made the drive to the ranch, Eric couldn't help but realize how wonderful life had become since he'd entered into a relationship with Sookie. He didn't realize that the happiness bubble he'd been living in was about to burst.

The first week they were in Colorado, things went well. They were both quite impressed at some of the improvements Peter had made to the ranch, with Alcide's help. He had worked with his father, a general contractor, for years; so, improving building situations was something Alcide knew a lot about. He was able to help Peter redesign and build a new stable that was more secure, and held much more storage than the old one had.

One afternoon, while Sookie was at the movies with Tara, Eric saw Bill at the grocery store. Eric tried to walk away before Bill could say anything, but he was unsuccessful. Bill mentioned something about how he'd seen Sookie the previous evening, and how much more uninhibited she was. When Sookie got home from the movies, Eric asked her what Bill had been talking about, and it led to the worse fight they'd ever had.

Eric had known that Sookie and Miranda had gone over to help Susan with a few things, but Sookie had never mentioned Bill being there. Sookie told her that she didn't say anything about it because she didn't think it was a big deal. She figured Eric would take it for granted that Bill would be at the house. Eric told her that he didn't want her anywhere near Bill, which of course, led Sookie to remark that she didn't take kindly to others telling her what to do.

She quite literally ran into Alcide as she stormed out of the house. She asked him to take a drive with her so that she could try to calm her nerves, and Alcide accepted her invitation. They hopped into Alcide's truck and drove to a park in the middle of town, and walked around. Sookie told Alcide all about the fight she'd had with Eric, and about how much she hated his high-handed attitude. Alcide told her that he understood why she would feel that way, but, helped her to see things from Eric's perspective as well. After they'd walked around for a couple of hours, Sookie felt like she was ready to see Eric again. She kissed Alcide on the cheek, and asked him to drive her home again. As they climbed back into the truck, she spotted the familiar black car with tinted windows parked nearby, and simply rolled her eyes as they drove away.

When they got back to the ranch, Sookie went upstairs the bathroom, and when she came out again, it was to find a fuming Eric pacing the hallway.

"Eric, what's wrong now?" she asked him.

"I just saw Alcide, Sookie. Is there anything you want to tell me?"

"Actually, there is. I wanted to apologize for what I said earlier. I guess I should've told you that I'd seen Bill while Mama and I were visiting Susan."

"Anything else?"

Sookie was confused. "What are you getting at, Eric?"

"Mind explaining to me why your lipstick was smeared all over Alcide's cheek?"

"Well, he helped me to see things from your perspective, and I gave him a kiss on the cheek to thank him." She couldn't figure out why this was such a big deal.

"And I'm just supposed to believe that?"

"You know what, Eric, you can believe whatever you want. I came back home because I wanted to apologize to you, and try to make things right. But I'm not going to just stand here and let you accuse me of something that I clearly didn't do. I'm going to Tara's, you call me when you're ready to talk."

Eric watched her drive away, knowing he should stop her. He knew that nothing had happened between her and Alcide. He knew that no matter what faults Sookie may have, she was faithful. He regretted what he'd said to her, but, he knew that she would need some time to cool off. So, he let her be, and decided he would call her in a couple of hours.

About 45 minutes later, he was just finishing up helping Jason fix a loose board on the back porch when his cell phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket, and saw that it was Tara calling him. He was completely unprepared for what happened next.

"Eric? This is Tara, listen, I need for you to grab Jason, Peter, and Miranda, and get down to the hospital as fast as possible." His entire body stiffened when he heard the urgency in her voice.

"Why Tara, what's going on?"

"It's Sookie. She's been shot."


	14. Chapter 14

Eric stared down at his hands, trying to suppress the bile threatening to rise up his throat. He and Jason were sitting in the bed of the old pick-up truck, while Peter and Miranda sat in the cab. Mike had been the only one of them calm enough to drive, and he was speeding through the streets on the way to the hospital. Eric knew that he would never be able to forget the look on Peter and Miranda's faces when he told them about Tara's phone call. She hadn't given him any details other than to simply say that Sookie had been shot twice, and was on her way to the emergency room.

Mike pulled the truck into the parking lot of the hospital, and the moment it stopped, both Eric and Jason vaulted over the side and went running for the entrance, Peter and Miranda following close behind them. Once they were inside the doors, Eric saw Tara pacing back and forth, blood all over the front of her clothes. He called her name, and she turned, and a loud sob poured out of her mouth.

Eric knew he had to be gentle with her, or she'd crumble, and they wouldn't get the information they so desperately needed. "Tara, honey, you need to tell us where Sookie is, and tell us what happened."

Tara buried her head in Eric's chest, and reached out to hold Jason's hand. "She's still in there with the doctors. They haven't come out and said anything yet."

"What happened, Tara?" Miranda asked.

Before she could answer, they heard a commotion coming from the entrance, and turned to see Jesse frantically pushing Susan's wheelchair over to them. Once he reached the others, he said, "What's going on? We got a call saying that Bill had been shot."

"We were told the same thing about Sookie," Jason said.

Just then, a nurse came to them, and asked that they move from the main hallway to a waiting room. It seemed they were causing quite the stir, and it was upsetting other patients. They reluctantly agreed once the nurse promised that the doctors working on Sookie and Bill would be out to see them as soon as possible.

Once they were seated, Tara finally got the chance to explain what had happened. "Sookie was really upset about something, and said that she really wanted some ice cream, so we took my car over to the Sonic. We were sitting at one of the picnic tables by the sidewalk when Bill pulled his car in to the only open space, which was right next to us. After he ordered his food, he got out of the car with a handful of trash to put in the garbage can. Then, out of nowhere, this black car with tinted windows pulls in behind my car, and some psycho jumped out, and she pointed a gun at Sookie! She smiled and said, 'bye bitch,' and then just started shooting. Bill jumped in front of us as quick as he could, but, the chick already shot Sookie twice, and as Bill was trying to get the gun from her, she shot him three times."

By this time, Tara was sobbing, and hiccupping, and anything else she tried to say was completely incoherent. Eric held her, and rocked back and forth with her trying to calm her down. He saw a small movement out of the corner of his eye, and saw Miranda reach out and take Susan's hand in hers. They sat for a few moments and said nothing, Tara's sobs the only sound they could hear. Then, a police officer came and said he needed to speak with Tara, and she got up and left with him. All they could do now was wait.

After what seemed like hours, but was actually closer to 30 minutes, a short woman in scrubs walked into the room. "I'm Dr. Ludwig," she said. "Which of you is Mr. Compton?" Jesse stood, and the doctor turned to speak directly to him. "Mr. Compton, your son took two bullets to the abdomen, and one to the chest. We were able to remove both bullets from his stomach, and they only caused minimal damage. However, the damage to his heart was too much for us to repair in the trauma room, so, he's been taken up to the OR with a cardiac specialist, who is doing her best to stabilize him, now."

"Is he gonna be okay? I mean, is he going to die?" Eric couldn't remember a time when he'd heard Jesse sound more hopeless.

"Honestly, Mr. Compton, I don't know. I can tell you that the surgeon working on him right now is one of the best in her area of expertise, and if anyone can save him, it's her. As soon as we know more, we'll let you know." Then, she turned and left. Jesse sank back to his seat, and dropped his head into his hands.

As they continued to wait for new of Sookie's condition, both Eric and Jason stood and began to pace. Finally, Dr. Ludwig came back into the room, and immediately looked to Miranda and Peter. "Mr. and Mrs. Stackhouse?" she asked, and they nodded and stood. "Your daughter has been taken up to the OR as well. Luckily, both of the bullets that hit her missed any vital organs. One hit her thigh and went straight through, only hitting muscle and tissue, the other hit her shoulder. The bullet in her shoulder partially shattered her collarbone. There's an orthopedic surgeon working with her right now, and he's putting some pins in her shoulder which will hopefully make it so she doesn't lose any movement in her arm at all, but reduced mobility is a possibility.

"Oddly enough, she sustained her worse injury **after** she was shot. The force of the shot to her shoulder knocked her backwards, and she hit her head on the pavement. The force of the fall caused a very slight amount of swelling in her brain, and we had to drill a small hole at the base of her skull to relieve the pressure. We won't know for certain until she wakes up, but, there is a possibility that the injury could affect her basic motor skills. I know this is a lot to take in, but, she was very lucky. I'm fairly certain that if Mr. Compton hadn't jumped in front of her, she wouldn't have survived."

**ONE WEEK LATER**

Sookie felt her eyes flutter open, and she looked around her in confusion. She realized that she was in the hospital, but she couldn't for the life of her remember why. She had an ache in her shoulder and leg, and her head was throbbing. Then, it all came rushing back to her. She'd been shot. Debi Pelt, Alcide's ex-girlfriend, had shot her.

She sensed movement next to her, and turned her head slightly to the left, and saw that Amelia was sitting in a chair reading a magazine.

"Amelia," she said softly, but the girl's head immediately whipped around at the sound.

"Oh, thank God, Sookie, you're awake! How do you feel? Are you okay? Oh my goodness, I need to get your doctor, and I need to call your brother." Before Sookie could get a word in edgewise, Amelia left the room in a hurry, and a nurse came in a moment later.

"Welcome back, Miss Stackhouse. You gave everyone quite the scare." The nurse began checking the machines that were hooked up to Sookie, and took her pulse and blood pressure. "I can't give you anything really to eat until the doctor has seen you, but, would you like some ice water?" Sookie nodded, and the nurse smiled and said, "I'll be right back," patted Sookie's knee, and left the room.

A moment later she came back in with a pitcher of water, poured some into a cup with a straw, and held it up for Sookie to take a drink. She couldn't remember the last time she'd had something so refreshing. The nurse then helped her adjust the bed and pillows so she was completely comfortable. After another minute or two, Amelia came back in and said that Sookie's parents, Jason, and Eric would be there shortly.

A woman Sookie didn't know, but who looked familiar, came in next, and Sookie assumed this was her doctor. "Well, hello there, Miss Stackhouse. I'm Dr. Ludwig. Miss Broadway assures me that your family will be here soon, so, while we're waiting for them, why don't I fill you in on your condition, alright?" Sookie nodded emphatically, and then winced at the pain in her head.

"Well, let's start with the easiest stuff. Do you remember being shot?"

"Yes," Sookie said softly, noticing that the water had made it much easier to speak.

"Good. The first bullet hit you in your right thigh, and went straight through. It's going to be sore for a while, and you'll have a couple of nasty scars, but that's it. Now, the second bullet hit your left shoulder. It shattered a bit of bone, and we had to put some metal pins in to hold everything together. You'll have to go through physical therapy before we know for sure, but, chances are you'll have lost a little bit of mobility, and it probably won't ever be up to full strength. There's a chance you might need follow-up surgery on it in a few years as well. Plus, and I personally think this is the worse part of it, you'll never be able to go through security at the airport without setting off the alarms ever again!"

Sookie smiled and laughed a little, but winced again at the pain in her head. "Well, I can see that you've noticed your head hurts." _That's stating the obvious_, Sookie thought. "The force of the second bullet knocked you backwards, and you hit your head pretty hard on the cement. We had to drill a very tiny little hole in your skull to relieve pressure, because it was more or less causing blood build-up around your brain, kind of like a bad bruise. It's going to be tender for quite some time, and I would suggest avoiding that area with a hairbrush, but all of the neurological tests we've run look normal."

Sookie turned her attention back to Amelia. "Did Tara get hit, too?"

"No, sweetheart, Tara's just fine. She's pretty shaken up emotionally, but not hurt at all physically. She and your Mama have been here almost constantly since you came out of surgery."

Sookie felt a sharp pain in her heart that Eric hadn't constantly been at her side. She remembered that the last time they'd spoke, they'd been fighting. Would he still mad at her? He'd accused her of infidelity with Alcide, and since it was Alcide's ex who had shot her, it probably made her look guilty as hell. She tried to push that thought aside. "How long have I been here?"

"It's been a week, Sook."

The machine that was measuring Sookie's heartbeat indicated her pulse had sped up drastically, and she looked very distressed.

Dr. Ludwig took a step closer and lifted Sookie's hand and held it in her own. "Calm down now, Miss Stackhouse. It's nothing to be worried about. For the first couple of days, your body kept itself in 'down time' so it could have a chance to recover. You slowly started to wake up on your own on the fourth day, but, as you began to gain consciousness, your pulse and blood pressure went very high, because your body was still in quite a bit of pain. So, we've basically had you in a medically induced sleep for the last three days. That way, your body was continuing to heal itself, and you were sleeping through the most painful parts of your recovery." Sookie's heart rate slowed back down again, and Dr. Ludwig nodded with approval. "Unless something happens tonight, you should be able to go home tomorrow."

Just then, there was the sound of a small commotion in the hallway, and Peter and Miranda burst into the room. Jason was standing in the doorway, and Amelia walked over to join. Dr. Ludwig stepped away from the bed so that Peter and Miranda were able to both be at their daughter's side. Eric was notably absent.

"Oh, Sookie baby, you're awake!" Miranda gushed as tear fell down her cheeks.

"Mama, Daddy," was all Sookie could say in response, her tears now freely flowing as well. Peter bent down and lightly kissed her forehead, before sweeping his fingers across her cheeks to dash away the tears.

"I'm so sorry we weren't here when you woke up, baby" Miranda said.

"It's okay, Mama. Amelia said you've been here almost the whole time. I guess everyone gets sick of hospitals eventually," she smiled and laughed a little, trying to keep from moving her head too much.

"Well," Dr. Ludwig said from the corner, "I'll just let you all visit. Sookie, I'll be back in a little while to check on your. If you need anything, just press the call button." And with that, she and the nurse left the room. Miranda sat down in the chair that Amelia had been in earlier, and Jason and Amelia came in to stand next to the wall, and closed the door behind them.

"How do you feel, sweetheart?" Peter asked.

"Like hell warmed over," Sookie answered, and smiled as she heard Jason laugh. "I'm okay, Daddy. I don't hurt as bad as I thought I would, that's for darn sure."

"Oh, my poor baby girl," Miranda said, trying unsuccessfully to hold back her emotions. It was then that Sookie noticed how they were all dressed.

"Why are you guys all dressed up?"

Peter and Miranda exchanged a look over their daughter, and Sookie immediately knew something was wrong. "What? What happened?" She replayed the memory of her ordeal, trying to remember if anyone else had gotten hurt. "Oh my God, is it Tara?"

"No, honey, Tara's just fine. She didn't get hurt at all."

Sookie felt so confused. And then it hit her. "Mama, where's Bill?"

Miranda sighed, and Sookie knew whatever she was about to hear couldn't be good. "Sookie, after the second shot hit you, Bill jumped in front of you and Tara, and tackled the woman with the gun. While he was doing this, he got shot three times, himself; twice in the stomach, and once in the chest." Miranda's eyes filled with tears. "They operated on his heart a couple of times, but, the damage was just too much."

Sookie began to tremble, and she turned her attention to her father. "Daddy?"

"We've just come from his funeral, honey."

"No," she said, shaking her head, wishing that it wasn't true. "No, Mama, no. He can't be dead."

"I'm so sorry, honey, but he's gone," Miranda said, squeezing Sookie's hand.

"This isn't right. He saved my life, and now I'll never be able to thank him." She broke down into sobs, and began gasping for air. Miranda was trying to calm her down when Dr. Ludwig came back into the room, looking at the machines with a frown.

"I think that's enough excitement for now," she said. "Sookie, I'm going to give you a light sedative, and it will make you sleepy, alright? If you want to go home tomorrow, you need to calm down."

Sookie worked hard to slow down her breathing, and then simply nodded at the doctor. She watched as Dr. Ludwig injected something into her IV line, and before long, felt sleep pulling her under.

When Sookie woke again, the room was dark. She blinked a few times, allowing her eyes to adjust. As she looked around, she saw the figure huddled in a chair next to her bed.

"Eric," she said.

His head snapped up, and he simply looked at her for a moment. He reached over and turned on a lamp, allowing for a small amount of light to fill the room.

"Hey, Sook. How do you feel? Do you need anything?"

"Some water, please." He filled a cup with some water, and held it for her while she drank through a straw. When she was finished, she nodded at him, and he put the cup down.

She bit her lip, and looked a little embarrassed as she said, "I need to use the bathroom."

He smiled and silently laughed as he stood, moved her IV pole, and easily lifted her into his arms. He walked her to the bathroom and set her down on the toilet, and then stood just outside with the door partially shut. Once she was finished, he picked her up again, and walked back to her bed. Instead of setting her down, however, he continued to hold her in his arms for a moment, simply savoring her weight, the feel of her. She rested her head against his chest, and lightly rubbed her cheek against him. She wasn't sure where they stood anymore, but she couldn't deny herself this comfort.

He finally set her down on the bed, and helped her arrange herself comfortably. As he moved to sit back down in the chair next to her bed, she reached out and grabbed his hand, holding it firmly in hers. He looked down at their joined hands for a moment, before looking up into her eyes again. His were filling with tears.

"Sookie, this is all my fault. I'm so sorry."

She gasped. "Eric, no, none of this is your fault. Please don't blame yourself."

"But it is, Sook. If I hadn't been upset with you, you wouldn't have been out with Alcide when Debi saw you. And then, to make matters even worse, I accused you of doing something with Alcide, when I knew there was no truth to it whatsoever. I **knew** you'd never do something like that, but I just couldn't keep my mouth shut."

"Eric, listen to me. You didn't cause any of this. Alcide and I both knew that Debi had been following him around for months, so who knows if seeing the two of us in the park that day made any difference. And, sure, if we hadn't argued, I probably wouldn't have been at the Sonic that day. But, let's face it, Debi might've just found a different time and place, and maybe more people would've been hurt. You can't blame yourself for anything that happened."

He was still visibly shaken, and he put his forehead down on her bed. She raised her hand and lightly stroked his hair, relishing in the feel of touching him. After another moment of silence, she said, "This isn't fair, you know?" He looked up at her with one eyebrow raised, and waited for her to continue. "It isn't fair that Bill is dead, and I'm alive."

"Sookie, I know that you feel terrible about Bill. Believe me, I do, too. Lord knows I hated the guy, but he sacrificed himself for you, even I can see that."

"Oh God, poor Susan. How is she ever going to get over this?"

"She's having a pretty rough time, but, she's much stronger than most people give her credit for, Sookie. She's going to be okay."

"Nothing about this is going to be okay, Eric," she said, her voice starting to sound slightly hysterical. "She's never going to see her son again. It should've been me to die instead of him."

Eric's grip on her hand tightened exponentially. "Don't you dare say that, Sookie."

"But it's true! Susan **needs** him, Eric. She doesn't have anyone who can fill that void, now. I may be important to a lot of people, but I'm not absolutely necessary to anyone."

"Yes, Sookie, you are. Your parents need you. Jason needs you."

"My parents have Jason, and Jason has them, and now Amelia."

"Sookie, I need you." His voice was much softer than before, almost a whisper. "This whole thing finally made me see what I should've seen a long time ago. I need you, Sookie. I'm in love with you. I can't live without you, and frankly, I don't want to even try."

They looked into each other's eyes for a long moment. Sookie took her hand from Eric's, and raised it to wipe the tears from his face. "I love you, too, Eric. I love you so much."

He smiled at her, and leaned in to kiss her gently, worshipfully. "Hold me?" she asked.

"Always," he said, and helped her turn slightly onto her right side, before climbing into the bed with her, and holding her close. It wasn't long before they were both, once again, sleeping in each other's arms.

**A/N Well, we're just about done. Only the epilogue is left, which I hope to have posted sometime in the next couple of days. A few chapters ago, I replied to a few reviews, promising people that Bill would end up getting punished severely for what he almost did to Sookie, and what he DID do to Lorena. What I originally had in mind for him was much worse than what I ended up going with. I could never condone someone doing what Bill did, but, I had a hard time actually writing what I had originally planned, because it seemed too terrible and horrific an event to have happen to anyone. If you're at all interested in knowing the original plan, let me know! **

**Oh, and don't forget to REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW!!!!!**


	15. Chapter 15

**SIX YEARS LATER**

Sookie glanced once more into the full-length mirror in front of her, making sure she didn't need any last minute adjustments to her hair or makeup. Her mother walked past the open doorway, smiled and laughed quietly.

"Sookie, you already know you look beautiful, it's time to peel yourself away from the mirror!"

Sookie laughed, picked up her bouquet of flowers, and left the room with her mother, walking to the vestibule of the church, where the rest of the bridal party was waiting. Her mother kissed her on the cheek, then turned and allowed an usher to lead her up the aisle to her seat on the front row. Amelia came to stand next to Sookie, and the two linked arms, and leaned their heads together.

Since Amelia had been working as a massage therapist at the time, she had appointed herself as Sookie's own personal therapist when she'd been recovering from her gunshot wounds, and the two had truly become best friends.

"You look beautiful, by the way," Amelia said to Sookie.

Sookie smiled, turned to her friend and said, "Hey, what do ya know, so do you!" They laughed together, and when the music playing came to a crescendo, Sookie hugged Amelia quickly and said, "See ya up front!"

As Sookie made her way up the aisle, she couldn't help but smile brightly. Eric, Jason, and the Minister were all smiling back at her, and she felt her heart swell with love. Once she reached the top of the aisle, she stepped a small amount to her side, and turned to the back of the hall, where Amelia's father had stepped into position to escort his daughter down the aisle to her groom. Jason and Amelia had opted for a smaller church ceremony, with Sookie as maid of honor, and Eric as the best man.

After much celebrating, Jason and Amelia left on their honeymoon, and Sookie practically collapsed into bed, exhausted, but pleasantly so. Eric smiled at her as he walked into their bedroom.

"Gee, Hun, you look a little tired," he said.

"Ya think?" she answered sarcastically as Eric lay down and pulled her body close to his. "It's been a very long day, but it was a pretty good one, wasn't it?"

"Very good. I think they're going to be very happy together."

"I do, too. I'm just glad that she's my real sister now."

Eric slowly began placing kisses along the length of Sookie's arm. "So, my lover, just how tired are you?"

She grinned, rolled onto her back, and looked up into his beautiful blue eyes. "Not too tired to let you make love to me," she said.

"Thank God," Eric said, as he proceeded to do just that.

The next afternoon, Sookie and Miranda were leaving the Compton house after having lunch with Susan, and decided to make a quick stop at the grocery store. Sookie had a doctor's appointment shortly afterwards, so they split up in the store to make things go a little faster. Sookie was just leaving the produce section when she saw a familiar face.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Alcide Herveaux," she said, smiling as Alcide turned at the sound of his name.

"Sookie Stackhouse, how the hell are ya?" he asked, with a surprised grin.

"Northman," she said.

"Beg your pardon?"

"It's Sookie Northman, now. Eric and I got married four years ago."

Alcide's smile brightened, and he said, "That's wonderful, congratulations! Where are you two living?"

"Well, because Eric was an only child when his parents died, all of their assets went to him. As it turns out, they were pretty well off. So, he used a chunk of the money, and we had a house built on the ranch, not too far from Mama and Daddy's house. We both work there full-time now, and once Daddy retires, we'll take over."

"Wow. But what about Jason?"

"He told Daddy a long time ago that as much as he loved the ranch, he didn't want run everything. He and Amelia have a place in Denver."

"Speaking of which, didn't I hear that they got married as well?"

"Yeah, yesterday actually. So, what brings you to town? I thought you were living in Montana?"

"Wyoming. My Grandmother is turning 80 in a couple of days, so, we're having a big family party."

"That's wonderful! So, how **are** things going for you?"

"Good. I've got my general contractor's license, and I actually was actually just hired to build a new 12 condo subdivision, so, things are going pretty good. How about you? How's the, um, shoulder doing?" Alcide cringed a little when he said this. He wasn't sure if Sookie liked to talk about the injury she'd suffered at his ex-girlfriends hands.

"It's okay. I've actually got an appointment with my doctor in about an hour to discuss whether or not I need to have the pins adjusted."

"Well, in that case, I won't keep you any longer. It was nice to see you, tell your parents I say hello," he said. He leaned in and gave her a quick hug, before turning and walking away. Sookie made her way to the pharmacy section of the grocery store, and let her mind wander.

The last time she'd seen Alcide was the final day of Debi Pelt's trial. She'd been found guilty of murder and attempted murder, and had been sentenced to prison without the possibility of parole. The very next day, Alcide had moved from the area.

Recovering from the ordeal had been quite a bit easier than Sookie would've imagined. She really was quite lucky that her injuries weren't any worse. She knew she was lucky, and felt a stab of guilt that some of her luck hadn't latched onto Bill as well. She'd worried about Susan, but Eric had been right, and Susan was much stronger than most people gave her credit for. She'd gone with her mother to visit Susan many times in the days following her release from the hospital. It was actually Susan that had finally answered one of Sookie's many unasked questions. She'd wondered why Eric had not been there with her family in the hospital when she first woke up. She got her answer when Susan spoke about how grateful she'd been that Mike and Eric had taken over as pallbearers, so that Peter and Jason could rush to the hospital to see Sookie.

She was brought out of her thoughts when her mother tapped her on the shoulder, reminding her what a hurry they were in. Sookie grabbed the last item she needed, tossed it into the shopping card, and began to walk with her mother to the cash registers.

As they drove back to the ranch, Miranda said, "Sookie, now, I don't want you to think I'm prying, but, I couldn't help but notice that you bought a bottle of prenatal vitamins. Tell me, am I going to be a Grandma?" Excitement was obvious in her tone of voice.

Sookie smiled, and laughed. "Not quite yet, Mama. But, I guess I should tell you that Eric and I **are** trying." Miranda let out a squeal of delight, and Sookie just shook her head. Once they'd returned to the ranch, they put the groceries away, and Sookie headed off to her appointment.

Later that evening, Sookie was in the kitchen preparing dinner when Eric came in, having just finished work for the day. He pulled her to him and kissed her, as she squealed and pushed him away. "You're all sweaty, and you stink!" They laughed together as he finally let her go.

"So, how'd it go at the doctor's office?" he asked her as he stole a cherry tomato from the pasta salad she was mixing.

"It went okay. Dr. Ludwig said that the pins could stand to be adjusted, but, as long as I'm not in any pain, we can put it off for a while so it doesn't interfere with anything else."

Eric looked confused. "What would it interfere with?"

"Well, you know, changes in my body and what not?"

She turned to look at him, and he raised an eyebrow. "Changes in your body?" Then, he seemed to understand what she was implying. He strode over to her, put his hands on her shoulders, and looked at her expectantly.

She nodded, and simply said, "She confirmed it just today. We're pregnant."

**THE END**


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